


Life's All About Changes

by Crazyreader2468



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Angst, Desperate Measures, Drama, F/M, Life-Threatening Situations, Post-Season/Series 06, Prison life, Romance, season 6.5
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-15
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-05-23 14:36:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 30,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14936172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crazyreader2468/pseuds/Crazyreader2468
Summary: After agreeing to plead guilty to being the Green Arrow in order to get FBI assistance in capturing Diaz, Oliver finds himself in a supermax, a maximum security federal prison, serving a life sentence. As he struggles to become accustomed to life in prison, his family, friends, and teammates struggle to live without him, as well as continually attempting to find a way to get him pardoned. Will they succeed in obtaining a pardon and will Oliver survive until they do? Mostly AU from right before the ending of episode 6 x 22 and after most of 6 x 23.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for returning to another one of my stories. I have been working on this over the hiatus and wanted to have it mostly done before I posted. If you have read some of my stories recently re: season six, you may find the first several chapters slightly familiar. However, I did change it up and revised it for this new story. 
> 
> So, I hope you find it entertaining and fun. Fun may not be the right word, but you know what I mean. It will begin with a chapter delving into Oliver’s thoughts as he speaks to Samanda re: the FBI deal. (his first mistake). Like I said, I rewrote/revised my one-shot “An Agreement That Binds’. However, that is only the first part of this first chapter. There are some exciting things that follow which are quite rewarding. 
> 
> This is episode 6 x 22 AU only the ending when Oliver is talking to Watson and then AU 6 x 23 after they gather at the hospital. Hope you enjoy the changes.

Disclaimer: WB/DC own these characters. I’m only borrowing them for a while. I own the original ideas found in this. Some of the dialogue and events are from Arrow episodes 6 x 22, “The Ties that Bind”, written by Ben Sokolowski and Oscar Balderrama and 6 x 23 “Life Sentence” by Wendy Mericle and Marc Guggenheim. 

Cross-posted to both FFN and AO3. 

 

After their latest plan to capture Diaz failed, Oliver found himself sitting next to Felicity on a work table, just the two of them. She, as usual, was waiting for him to gather his thoughts before voicing her own. Oliver knew she was just as disappointed as he was for having to allow the information to burn, to not have succeeded in getting it. For not ending it tonight. 

Suddenly an idea occurred to him. One that he had kept in the back of his mind, as a possible, in-case-the-world-exploded type of last case scenario. It was something he didn’t want to do, didn’t want to consider. But the alternative? The alternative was even more distasteful. Risking the lives of the two most important people in his life. He was determined to keep Felicity and William safe at all costs, even if it meant his own life. And he would see that through, no matter what.

“I can think of one option,” Oliver told his wife.

If only she knew what he was thinking, Felicity wouldn’t let him out of her sight. Oliver knew she’d use her loud voice to express her anger about him going forward on this without consulting her. However, he wasn’t going to let her risk her life again trying to get Diaz with another plan of action. He wasn’t looking forward to talking –no, begging – with the person he had in mind, but there really wasn’t any other choice.

Without a hint as to what he was thinking, only that he had to work it out first for himself, Oliver attempted to keep his spirits up around his family as they went to bed. Surprisingly Felicity didn’t attempt to get it out of him. The next morning, he got up early, before his wife, and simply made his way to the local FBI office in Star City within the Federal building and asked to speak to Samanda Watson. In no time at all he was shown into her office. She sat behind her desk, resting her elbow on her desk with her chin on her closed fist. Saying not a word, she merely looked at him, waiting for him to begin. 

The very last thing he had wanted was to approach Samanda and practically beg for her help. However, if he approached a different agency, or a different FBI official, valuable time might be lost. Time allowing Diaz to further get his hooks into his city. To hurt more people. To possibly threaten his family, friends and team. He simply couldn’t afford that to happen. 

So, Oliver found himself standing in front of a woman who looked at him like she could barely remain in her seat without jumping up in jubilation. He centered himself and began. 

 

“So far Ricardo Diaz has been unstoppable. He has aligned himself with the most powerful criminal organization in the country. He controls Star City's government, its infrastructure, and its police force.” It killed something inside him, but he needed to add, “I can't stop him on my own.”

A slow smile crossed Samanda’s face, making his skin crawl as he waited for an answer. He repeated to himself he was doing this for his city. “When you say you can't stop him, are you speaking as the former mayor or as someone else?” 

He looked down and shook his head silently to himself as she rose and walked casually around her desk. Oliver knew it wasn’t going to be easy to ask for her help, but this woman wasn’t making it any easier. He looked up, meeting her gaze unwaveringly. 

“You want my help?” Samantha asked. “I'm gonna need two things from you.” She leans against her desk. “The first is I'm gonna need you to say the words.”

Oliver barely nodded his head as he looked squarely at Samanda and said quietly but steadily, “I am the Green Arrow.”

She mimicked the volume of his answer without showing any satisfaction with his answer. “And the truth shall set you free.”

He waited for a moment, reluctantly allowing her a moment to revel in her triumph. Oliver was afraid to ask, but obviously Samanda wasn’t going to say. “What's the second thing?”

“You sign, irrevocably, a paper stating you confess to being the Green Arrow, to all his crimes. You give up your right for a trial. You agree to the sentencing of a maximum-security prison for a life sentence.”

“What?” Oliver had been expecting terms along these lines, but she had gone beyond reason in the severity of the punishment. He sat down in a chair next to him, directly opposite Watson.

“Do you expect to have this all be taken care of by a slap on the wrist? No, Mr. Queen. You acted time and again on your own accord, sometimes acting as judge, jury and executioner. Do you know what we’d have in this country if we allowed that? Anarchy, Mr. Queen, anarchy.”

“I…” Oliver cleared his throat. “I expect to serve time for my crimes, despite my reasons for doing them. However, a life sentence? In maximum security? Isn’t this a little severe?”

“Not at all, Mr. Queen. You’ve murdered how many people over the past six years? By my count, at least twenty people. Often, in most states, murder of just one person receives a life sentence. And the maximum security? Really, Oliver, you expect us to trust you not to attempt to escape? No, it has to be a maximum-security prison.” 

Oliver pondered all she had said. He knew the city needed the FBI’s assistance. He and the team couldn’t capture Diaz without their help. 

But the terms? Prison for life? There goes his dream of a family, seeing William grow up, more children with Felicity. Not to mention maximum security. Most of the criminals he had assisted in putting away were serving their sentences in maximum security prisons. Such places didn’t believe in making special cases for police enforcement for added protection. As if he’d be considered as such, even though he was, despite being self-appointed. 

But what choice did he have? He had nothing to bargain with, and he had everything to lose. Even if he never again lived with his family, they’d be safe, be alive, at least, living in a safe city again. 

“Oh, and Mr. Queen, I’ll need you to confess publicly to being the Green Arrow.”

“What? Now you’re going beyond reasonable. What about my family, my friends? My team? They’ll all be called out. They wouldn’t be safe. Anywhere.”

“You should’ve thought of that before beginning your campaign.”

“Why would you need this? I’ll be serving justice, you have my confession, why do you need me to announce it publicly?”

“One, your indictment will be public record. If we don’t announce it, some eager TV station or tabloid will make it known anyway. Two, to ensure you don’t put on the hood ever again, on the slim chance you get released.”

Oliver looked down at his hands in his lap, considering all he was about to agree to. All that he was about to do. 

“I’m surprised your wife, or your team, isn’t here with you.”

Oliver cleared his throat. “I haven’t discussed this with them. They don’t know I’m doing this.”

“You’ve always been a lone gunman, huh?” Samanda gave out a dry chuckle. “Or is it you were afraid they’d talk you out of it?”

Oliver looked up at Samanda with sad eyes, unable to hide his feelings for once. “I know I don’t have any other choice.” There was one more thing he had to address. “I also need complete immunity for Felicity and my entire team. John Diggle, Rene Ramirez, Dinah Drake and Curtis Holt.”

Samanda shook her head slowly as if she couldn’t believe how self-sacrificing he could be. “I’ll be back. I’ll have the papers written up so you can sign them. Including full immunity for your entire team. Then we’ll discuss our plans for tomorrow’s capture of Diaz.”

Oliver nodded, watching as she left the room. He lowered his head and rested it on his hands. 

~~OQ~~FS~~OQ~~FS~~OQ~~

After the morning raid on the police station, the attempt to get Diaz with Quentin’s help, and the final battle resulting in the Black Siren barreling Diaz off the pier, they found themselves at the hospital waiting to hear the results of Quentin’s surgery. They were all gathered in the waiting room, trying to control anger and nerves. Taking turns in getting up to pace the hallways, they waited hours to hear something. 

Oliver sat on one of the couches, keeping his eyes mostly down-cast, looking at his hands in his lap or at his feet. He knew he needed to talk to his wife, to his team. Not knowing exactly when Samanda would show up, it should be done now. But he was so worried about Quentin. Too many things reminded him of Laurel. The hospital. Even Quentin being in the same room she’d been in. How the doctors said Quentin was going to be all right, just like Laurel. But Laurel died. Lance’s operation was taking longer than they’d said. Oliver didn’t know what to think. He couldn’t think, he was simply so worried. If he tried to tell his team about Samanda’s agreement…he didn’t think he could get it out. 

Oliver got up and walked over to the doorway of the waiting room, looking at blankly at the medical personnel passing by. Looking back at Felicity, still sitting in her chair, Oliver observed her on her phone. Oliver couldn’t even guess what she was checking on. With the sixth sense she had, Felicity chose that moment to look up at him. Oliver knew the very moment she resolved to do something difficult. She turned off her phone, walked over to him and hugged his arm. 

“Come walk with me,” she said, looking up with a question in her pretty blue eyes. Even though she hadn’t worded it a question, he didn’t have the heart to refuse her. 

They walked to the end of the ICU to the double doors. There was a smaller, empty room with several chairs in it. Felicity pulled him into the room and shut the door. She waited until he sat down in one of the chairs before sitting herself. 

“Oliver, please tell me what’s happening. Like I said, you were doing the whole Oliver apology tour,” and she continued in her Loud Voice, “And I want to know why. What is going on?”

Taking her hand, Oliver closed his eyes, attempting to gather strength. He opened them with Felicity waiting for his answer. She cocked her head to the side, reminiscent of their first meeting, and he cleared his throat.

“There was no other way.”

Felicity’s face showed her confusion with his vague answer. “What was?” she asked softly.

“Early this morning I went to the Federal building to talk to Samanda Watson.” He stopped at her gasp. “I…I made a deal she accepted.”

“Deal? What type of deal, Oliver?”

Looking directly into her eyes, Oliver said, “For the FBI’s help to catch Diaz. For the FBI to stay in Star City until Diaz is caught.”

Oliver watched as a shiver went through Felicity. She swallowed hard. “I wondered what had changed her mind to help us. What did it cost you?”

“Felicity, I didn’t know what else to do. Diaz almost killed us, all of us, everyone I cared about. He would’ve succeeded if Anatoly hadn’t warned us. If you hadn’t told me to answer the phone, we’d all be dead. Dead, Felicity!”

“What did you do, you self-sacrificing idiot? What did you do without discussing with me first?”

With his left hand he tugged at his chin. Felicity pulled at the hand she was holding. “To hand myself over. But only on the condition everyone else has immunity.” 

Felicity sat there in silence. He looked back at her, and her eyes were staring at the wall behind him, slowly filling with tears. Her eyes closed and she slowly shook her head. Rising, she walked numbly to the door, opened it, and left the room. 

Oliver put his head in his hands. It seemed like the only option he had at the time. To keep William and Felicity safe. What would his life mean if it resulted with them getting killed? But how will Felicity ever forgive him?

In a whoosh of air, someone entered the room and slammed the door. A flurry of blonde hair preceded a slap on his face. “How dare you.” Her voice was low and steady, cold in its delivery. “How dare you, Oliver. You promised me, Oliver, you promised me to never, EVER, make another important decision without discussing it with me first. Not only did you not do that, but this must be the dumbest, most bone-headed decision you’ve ever, ever made. This beats even teaming up with Malcolm to fight Ra’s.”

“I’m sorry, Felicity --”

“You weren’t even going to tell me. You went around apologizing to anyone and everyone, but you didn’t bother to talk to me. Your very own wife.”

“I couldn’t. We had to get through today, we had to catch Diaz.”

“But we didn’t catch Diaz, did we? Is your imprisonment a punishment for not delivering Diaz?”

“No. Like I said, the FBI is going to stay until he’s behind bars.”

“What about you?” The coldness remained in her tone. 

“I’m to surrender to the FBI, pleading guilty to all charges, and be sentenced.” 

“I suppose you didn’t bother to have a lawyer there.” The coldness was still in her eyes.

Oliver slowly shook his head. “I…I didn’t even think about checking with Jean.”

Felicity’s breath came out as a huff. “I suppose because she would’ve talked you out of it, like I would’ve.”

“There’s nothing else we could do,” he said, looking at her, pleading in his eyes for her to only understand. 

“How do you know that, Oliver?” Felicity asked. “You didn’t ask me, didn’t ask us. Dig has all that military experience, and he has the resources of ARGUS behind him. And you don’t think there was any other way?”

“ARGUS is federal, this was considered a civic situation, like Lyla said.”

Felicity covered her face with her hands. Oliver watched her and knew she was attempting to control her temper. He desperately wanted to take her in his arms but was afraid he wasn’t worthy of doing that any more. 

“You and William could’ve been killed as we attempted to come up with a new plan to stop Diaz. I couldn’t stand the thought of that happening.”

“How are we to stand you being in prison for the rest of your damn life, Oliver? I don’t even know if we can write, or even visit you. You know you’re going to be sent to the most secure prison. We wouldn’t stand a chance of getting you out.” Suddenly her face took on a hopeful look, a light shining in her eyes. “Unless we leave now? We can escape. I had made up identities for the three of us when you were under trial. So, we could --”

He hated to take the hopeful look from her face. “No, Felicity, we can’t. It would only leave the rest of the team to be brought up on charges. The same charges I’m running away from.”

Oliver allowed her to think over what he said for a few minutes. Then he said, “We better get back. There might be news about Quentin, or Samanda may --”

“She’s not going to come here and drag you out like some run-of-the-mill criminal, is she? Is she? She can’t give us a night to come to grips about this? To spend one last night as a family?”

Oliver pressed his lips together tightly and slowly shook his head. Felicity looked up at the wall again, trying to keep the tears at bay. Then breathing out slowly, she turned to look at him. “You better give me a kiss that….”

His lips crushed hers in a searing kiss, one meant to say all he couldn’t say. All he’d ever want to say, in the days, months, years ahead. When they were almost out of breath, he broke the embrace and gathered her into his arms. Breathing her in, trying to commit her smell to memory one last time, he held her until he felt her begin to cry. 

He broke apart, saying, “We need to go.” Then a resolute look came upon his face, and Oliver pulled off his wedding ring. “I would keep this with me if I could. But they’d only take it away from me in the prison. So please keep it safe for me?” Oliver told her as he pressed it into her palm. 

Felicity broke into a fresh burst of sobs. “Why? Why did this have to happen, Oliver? We don’t deserve this, you don’t deserve this.”

“I know, Sweetheart, I know. If there were any other way, I’d have gone that route. But please take my ring and keep it safe. Until you can give it back to me and I can wear it again.”

She nodded, putting the ring into her inner pocket of her slacks. Oliver said, “We better go now.” 

They locked eyes and reached for the other’s hand. Walking out of the room, they held the gaze until they reached the others, walking hand in hand back to the lounge. They had barely sat down when Samanda and two men dressed in suits entered the swinging doors and walked towards them down the hall. As though one, the rest of the team stopped what they were doing and looked up. Dig, Dinah and Rene stood up and watched their approach as though expecting a fight. 

Samanda looked towards Oliver sitting forward, resting his elbows on his upper legs, staring straight ahead. “Mr. Queen.” When Oliver looked up at her, with a dead look in his eyes, she said, “It's time.”

Dinah looked first at Oliver and Felicity, then at the rest of them. “Time? Time for what? What’s she talking about?”

Oliver slowly rose from his chair without looking at anyone. Standing, he said to the room, “I'm sorry I haven't ex-- explained this to everyone. There hasn't been any time.”

“There wasn't time to explain what, Oliver?” Dig asked, taking a step towards Oliver, standing in between Watson and Oliver. 

Rene glared at Samanda and asked, “You're arresting us? I thought you said we had immunity!”

“You do,” Samanda told him. Nodding her head sideways at Oliver she continued, “Thanks to him.”

As realization hits the others, an FBI agent handcuffed Oliver’s hands behind his back. They began to ask questions out loud all at once.

Oliver called for attention. “It was the only way to keep everyone safe and out of jail.”

“No, man, it was not the only way,” Diggle told him taking a few steps toward him but was stopped by the other FBI agent. “There are a million other ways.”

Dinah protested to Samanda, “The judge threw out his case. You can't do this.”

Samanda nodded her head, to emphasize her point. “I can. It's federal.”

“Federal,” Dinah repeated, taking a step back while covering her face with her hands. “I can’t believe this.”

Samanda continued, “The bureau's going to stay in Star City until Diaz is brought in, but only if Oliver agrees to turn himself in.”

No one had noticed Sara walking up to the group, with Laurel staying back. “What the hell’s going on here?”

Felicity explained, “Sara, Oliver made a deal with the FBI to protect the rest of us from prosecution. And for assistance in getting our city back.”

“At what cost, Oliver?” Diggle asked, taking a step towards Oliver and Felicity. “Your freedom?”

“Yes, it was the cost demanded of me.”

Diggle took a step towards Samanda but Dinah grabbed his arm. “What’s the meaning of this? The government can’t help its citizens without a sacrifice from someone who’s only done what he could to serve his city, his country, the world?”

“You may see him as a hero, but he didn’t do it without breaking laws and acting like a power onto himself. It’s simply not done in this country and must be punished, no matter who you are and what you’ve done.”

No one noticed Dr. Schwartz approaching the group until she was practically on top of them. Oliver was the first to notice and asked her, “Doctor, do you have news?”

As everyone turned to look at her, Dr. Schwartz approached the group. She cleared her throat before beginning. “Mayor Lance seized during the procedure. The surgeons worked to revive him. They did everything they could, but his brain was deprived of oxygen for 7 minutes.” Her eyes showed a glitter of tears. “He's gone. I'm very sorry.”

As the group began to react and sobs could be heard, Samanda turned to Oliver. “Unfortunately, this doesn't change our arrangement.”

Oliver solemnly nodded his head. Looking at everyone, but last at Felicity hugging Sara, he said, “Take care of one another.” As he passed Sara, he stopped and said, “Sara, I’m so very sorry about your father.”

Felicity and Sara watched as Oliver was led down the hallway. Rene took a step as if he was going to chase after them, but Diggle grabbed his arm and held him in place. Curtis took a crying Dinah into his arms. “It’s not fair, Curtis. We were so bad to him, and now he’s going to jail to protect us,” Dinah said through her tears. 

Sara and Felicity looked at one another. “I’m so sorry, Sara, for your dad. He…he was like a father to me.”

Sniffling, Sara said, “I know.” Giving her a small smile, Sara said, “And he almost was.”

An idea suddenly occurred to Felicity. “Sara! You could change things! You and your team, it’s what you do, right? You can go back in time and stop Oliver –” 

Sara sadly shook her head. “No, Felicity, we couldn’t. We aren’t supposed to do that.”

“Why, Sara, why?” Felicity grabbed Sara’s arm. “You must! It’s the only way.”

“No.” Sara let out a heavy sigh. “If I could, wouldn’t I have gone back in time to save Laurel? Save my own father? See, Felicity, we cannot do it. We can’t play with time like that without huge consequences.”

Felicity broke down. “It’s not fair, Sara. Why did your father have to die? Why does Oliver have to go to jail now we’ve finally gotten together? It’s not fair.”

Sara simply took Felicity in her arms and hugged her tightly, tracing circles on Felicity’s back in a vain attempt to comfort her. 

Dinah and Curtis walked over to them. “I’m sorry for your dad, Sara. He was a good man and a good cop,” Dinah said. 

Diggle walked over to Felicity, who sniffled in her attempt to stop crying. “We should get you and William to the Federal Building. Hopefully you can say goodbye to Oliver one more time there.”

Felicity nodded. Part of her brain was telling her she was in shock and going through the motions. It was all she could do not to fall on the ground, crying like there was no stopping her. Luckily, she pushed away that instinct and allowed Diggle to place an arm around her, leading her out of the hospital. 

Meanwhile Laurel approached Sara and tentatively reached out for her arm. “I think you – um, us –should go see your father.” 

Sara nodded at her and took the hand Laurel offered and allowed her to lead the way.

Author's Note: So, what’d you think? Please let me know by comment even what part you liked the best. I especially like Felicity being told. Anyway, let me know what your favorite part was. Hopefully I will get the next chapter up soon as well. (And one of these days I will have a story finished before I start posting, sigh).


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for returning to my story. And for all the reviews, comments, kudos, favs and follows!!! Always appreciated. Here is the second chapter. I hope you enjoy it as well as the first.

Disclaimer: WB/DC own these characters. I’m only borrowing them for a while. I own the original ideas found in this. Some of the dialogue and events are from Arrow episode 6 x 23 “Life Sentence” by Wendy Mericle and Marc Guggenheim. 

Cross-posted to both FFN and AO3. 

 

Diggle and Felicity first stopped to pick up William from Raisa’s home then they drove to the hospital. As Dig threw out ideas about how to rescue Oliver from prison, Felicity took note of them. William sat silently in the back seat, having learned to not ask questions while Arrow business was being discussed. He trusted Felicity and his dad to tell him what was going on. Eventually. And they always did. At least partially.

Diggle parked the car and they all got out. Felicity reached out and took William’s hand. Sensing she needed the comfort, William allowed it. The group walked silently up to the building, through the metal detectors and to a desk. Diggle told them to wait while he approached the woman at the desk and explained who they were. She instructed them to wait in the nearby chairs while she checked for them. 

Sitting down, William couldn’t wait any longer. “What exactly is going on? Is Dad in prison? Why is he in prison?”

Felicity exchanged glances with Diggle sitting on the other side of William. “Honey, I’d rather have your father explain this to you, but yes, your father is going to prison.”

William felt anxiety build up within him but he asked through it, “Why? I thought the judge dismissed the charges. That was what you guys had told me.”

“Yes, that’s true. But those were state charges. The Federal government decided to bring federal charges against your father.”

William sat back in his chair, sensing there was more to it than what Felicity said. But at least he’ll be able to see his dad, right? Felicity said his father would explain it to him. Turning towards Felicity once again, he asked, “Will I be able to see Dad today?”

Felicity swallowed and nodded. “That’s what we’re waiting for.” 

Thirty minutes later, a woman approached them. She explained she could take them to the room in which Oliver was currently waiting. As they walked, Samanda appeared down the hall. At the sight of the woman, Felicity felt physically sick. She pushed down the nausea, as well as the anger, as Samanda reached them. 

“There’s a 30-minute delay in the transport. Which means you and William can spend that time with Mr. Queen.” Samanda said. “I’m going in first to tell him that. Please wait here.” She entered the room and closed the door.

Felicity nodded her head. Turning towards William, she said, “I’m going in to talk to him first, then I’ll come get you. Okay?”

The boy nodded. He knew grown-ups needed time to talk. Diggle nodded at Felicity, indicating he would keep an eye on William. The door then opened and Samanda indicated Felicity could enter. 

 

~~OQ~~FS~~OQ~~FS~~OQ~~

 

Felicity walked in slowly, with her head up as she passed Samanda without a word. As soon as Samanda closed the door, Felicity grabbed her phone, pointed it at the camera and scrambled the signal. Hurrying to Oliver, she sat down in the chair across from him. 

“I talked it over with John. We have a plan. We're gonna get you out.”

Oliver shook his head, “No, you can't.”

“Yes, we can. We've done it before. We got John out of-- we broke him out of Langham Penitentiary.”

“Yes, we did.” Sighing, Oliver told her, “That was a prison, Felicity. They're transferring me to a Supermax, and even if I wanted to break out, they would simply arrest everyone, including you. I think that William deserves at least one parent, don’t you?”

Felicity swallowed her tears and put on her most persuading look. “During your trial, you said you didn't want to go public because you wanted a life after the Green Arrow. This is that life. You could—”

Oliver held her eyes for a moment then said, “I wanted to stop Diaz and save you and William more.” Oliver reached for her hand and looked down. “Not everything went our way. Quentin and --.” He cleared his throat and began again. “That protective custody we talked about for the two of you during my trial--”

“No.” Her tone was the one which he usually paid heed to. 

Oliver overrode her interruption, “Lyla's gonna handle everything.” He took her hand. “I promise, only until Diaz is off the board.”

It was suddenly too much for Felicity. “No. I refuse to believe that this is the only option.”

“Diaz tried to kill everybody close to me. I had to find a way to protect everybody.” He cleared his throat once more. “Remember, I’ve told you I couldn’t bear to lose the two of you. That I would do anything to avoid that.” A sigh escaped him. “This was the way. The only way. Is William here?” 

“Yeah, he's outside. He's -- He's scared. He's confused. He's wondering how the woman that he's known for less than a year is suddenly his only parent,” Felicity gave him a pleading look but he only looked down.

“Would you please go get him,” Oliver said. 

She nodded, rose and walked over to the door. Opening it, William rushed in. He walked over to his father, shoulders slouched but eyes on his father.

“Buddy, how you doing?”

“I don't understand what's happening.” He looked up at his father with sadness and confusion in his eyes.

“I'm gonna explain everything to you.” He sat on the table while he had William sit in the chair. “Things didn’t go the way I wanted. We almost got killed two nights ago. You almost got killed two nights ago. I never wanted that for you. So, the only way to prevent that was to get help as soon as possible to get him. The FBI wasn’t going to help us until I promised…I said I’d admit to being the Green Arrow.”

“But why, Dad? Why wouldn’t they help? Aren’t they supposed to help out?”

“Not necessarily. It’s often complicated, but usually they only help out when it’s a danger to the country.”

“From all you’ve told me, and what’s happened, isn’t he dangerous to everyone?” 

Oliver looked over at Felicity, sitting at the other table to give them the illusion of privacy. Felicity’s eyes were filled with tears, and she shrugged helplessly as she smiled slightly. 

He turned his gaze back to his son. “I thought so too. I thought he was enough of a danger so I decided to go to prison rather than see him hurt you or Felicity.” 

“But why do you have to go to prison for being the Green Arrow? All you’ve ever done was help people.”

“Some of the ways I did that did go against the law, even though I felt it was necessary at the time.” Oliver looked up at the clock on the wall. “It’s almost time for me to go.” He looked directly in William’s eyes. “Just remember I love you, and like I told you weeks ago, grow up into the man I know you can be.”

William began to cry harder. “But I want you there with me.”

“Nowhere I want to be either, Bud. But, at least for now, know that’s not possible. For now. You know Felicity will be trying like the dickens to get me out, as well as Uncle Diggle and Aunt Lyla. You do know that, right?”

William sniffled. “Yeah, I know that,” he mumbled. 

A knock on the door interrupted them. Felicity rushed over to Oliver and William and threw herself into Oliver’s arms. They kissed, and Oliver tried to put everything into it, all his apologies, his love, his regrets. They broke apart and included William in their hug. 

“Mr. Queen, it’s time to go.” 

Oliver looked up and saw it was indeed Watson with two guards. He pulled away, caressed Felicity’s and William’s cheeks and said, “Take care of each other.” He was about to say more, but instead he swallowed hard and turned toward Watson. One of the guards approached Oliver and handcuffed him. 

Felicity and William stood still and watched him being led out. They rushed to the door and watched as they walked down the hall. Diggle approached them. Felicity hadn’t noticed him. “Come on. I’ll bring you outside. Oliver is going to make a statement.”

They watched in silence as Oliver told the world he was the Green Arrow and made his remarks encouraging the city, and his team, to stand strong and fight. Felicity cried silently throughout his speech, William simply stood there with a blank look on his face. After he was led to a bullet-proof van, Diggle led them over to his car, parked behind the Federal building. 

Lyla was waiting outside the car and enveloped Felicity in a hug. She quickly broke it and guided them into the back seat. The Diggles got in and the car took off. No one broke the silence, and they soon arrived at Oliver and Felicity’s loft. For now, Felicity and William were only going to grab a few things. Later in the week, Diggle planned to return and supervise the packing of the rest of the items into storage. They then left for the safe house where they were all going to spend the night. 

Once they’d gotten to the temporary safe house, Felicity went to her bedroom, kicked off her heels, and laid down on the bed. She curled up in a ball and stared at the wall. She was going to let the tears fall, but suddenly they refused to cooperate. Her heart felt numb. Her body felt numb. She couldn’t think anymore. 

Her phone rang. Felicity struggled to take it out of her pocket and glanced at the screen. ‘Jean Loring’ appeared, and she quickly answered it.

Hardly daring to breathe, Felicity asked, “Jean, how are you? What’s up? Do you have something to help Oliver?”

A moment’s silence filled her ears, then Jean spoke. “I’m sorry, I have nothing new. Yet. I wanted to see how you are and set up a meeting with you tomorrow.”

Felicity struggled to not let disappointment color her tone. “Oh, Jean, it’s not so good. You know everything?”

“Yes, for the record, your husband did not consult with me before he spoke to the FBI.”

“He didn’t speak to me either.”

“I can’t say I’m surprised by that. Why does he --,”

“Go off half-cocked, not thinking, that idiotic husband of mine?” Felicity closed her eyes and attempted to regain her composure, reminding herself Jean had nothing to be blamed for and she didn’t deserve to hear Felicity’s frustration. “Yeah, I don’t know.”

“He might just have succeeded with getting himself so deep even I cannot get him out of this.” 

Now she felt the big sobs about to break through, but she swallowed. “But you think you might?”

“I’m not sure, but I do owe his mother to try.” 

“Is any of this legal, Jean? Oliver wasn’t represented by an attorney, sentencing was carried out not in a courtroom or with an attorney present, and I feel the punishment is way beyond reasonable. Among other things.”

“I’m not aware of an FBI agent acting so forward like Ms. Watson has. Like I said, I’ve only done preliminary checking into this. When we meet tomorrow, I’ll probably not have any more concrete answers, but we’ll brainstorm as to what we can do, and what I need from you.” After a moment, Jean added, “Did Oliver tell you he’d admitted to me being the Green Arrow at his trial?”

Felicity again couldn’t hold back her bitterness. “Yes, he did. For all the good it did him.”

“Felicity, I know it’s difficult, but try not to give up hope.”

“You really think we have any kind of chance?”

“Like I said, I’m not sure, but I’ll do my very best. Not only is he the son of the best friend I ever had, he has done more for this city than anyone else. He doesn’t deserve such treatment, and we’ll figure out some way of getting him out.”

“Thank you, Jean. We’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“Is Lyla there right now? I should talk to her and arrange transportation for myself, I suppose.”

Felicity opened the door and found the woman in question just down the hall. Lyla hurried to her side. “I couldn’t help overhearing who you were talking to. I was hoping she’d need to talk to me.”

“She wants to meet with us tomorrow. Would that be possible?”

“Yes definitely. We can certainly stay one more day at this location before we go to your permanent one.” Lyla held out her hand and Felicity handed her the phone. Lyla said, as she was walking away, “Hello, Jean, this is Lyla Michaels.”

Felicity stood there for a moment, unsure as to what to do. Suddenly there was a hand on her shoulder, and she shrieked, jumping off the floor. 

“Felicity, it’s just me,” Diggle said, looking apologetic. “I’m sorry for scaring you. What’s going on?”

“That’s Jean Loring on the phone. She didn’t sound very promising, but she’s coming here tomorrow to discuss what we can do to get Oliver pardoned.”

Dig stood still, looking down while rubbing the back of his neck. “Felicity, I don’t know –”

“Dig, I know, I know. I accept that there might not be anything we can do. But I need to try.”

Dig took her in for a sideways hug, kissing her on the top of her head. “I know, Felicity. You wouldn’t be you if you didn’t try.”

Felicity pulled herself out of his grasp. “Well, I’m not the only one. You’re the same way.” 

Diggle gave her a wry smile. “I’m not quite where I used to be. That husband of yours has tested my tolerance for correcting his mistakes.” 

Felicity could tell he was only partially kidding. “I know, Dig. Try being married to him.” Realizing what she’d said, her face turned red. “I mean…you know, if you were a woman…well, that doesn’t help –”

Laughing, Diggle broke her babble. “It’s okay, Felicity. I know what you meant. And yes, you do have the more difficult burden to bear.”

Felicity rolled her eyes and joined in his laugher for a moment. She then turned serious. “Dig, I’ve thought it over, and Jean calling makes me more determined. We can’t go into protective custody.”

It was Diggle’s turn to roll his eyes. “You know that was Oliver’s one thing he wanted most.” 

Felicity’s eyes took on a determined look. “He’s not here to say, is he? I think, between you, Lyla and ARGUS, and my own security precautions we’ll be fine.” 

Dig nodded sagely. “You aren’t thinking this’ll set yourself up as bait to catch Diaz, is it?”

Felicity became alarmed. “No, of course not. Not with William with me. I’d never endanger him like that. Actually, Dig, I don’t think we’ll be a target now that Oliver is in prison. That was Diaz’ initial objective, after all.” 

“What do you mean? Hasn’t he been out for revenge all along?”

“He didn’t try to kill us until Oliver got released the first time. After all, he came after us the very next day following the trial. I don’t think it’s all coincidence, Dig. I figure William and I are no longer targets. Diaz is probably going to be busy trying to escape you, the NTA, and the FBI, along with whatever plans he wanted to implement once Oliver was gone.” 

Dig shook his head. “Man, Oliver is going to be piiiissed when he finds out about you not being in protective custody.”

“Dig, you sound worried. Whenever have you been afraid of Oliver?”

“Oh, there’ve been times….” 

“Besides, it’ll be easier for me to help you guys, find Diaz and get a pardon for my idiotic husband.” A sudden thought occurred to her. “And I’ll take his ‘pissed’ and raise him one ‘hurt, disappointed, frustrated as hell,’” she said as she counted off on her fingers. 

That got an even bigger laugh out of Diggle. “Felicity, dear, please never change,” as he took her into a hug and kissed the top of her head.

“Not planning on it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter of me adding details we didn’t get to see on the episode. We will soon be entering into total AU territory. And I don’t know about you, but as I was doing my final readthrough of this chapter, I had tears come to my eyes. Sigh. That Oliver.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back. Thanks for the warm reception of this story, and the last chapter in particular. I hope you enjoy this chapter just as much. All the kudos, comments and follows mean a lot to me!!!

Disclaimer: CW/DC own these characters. I’m only borrowing them for a while. I own the original ideas found in this. 

Cross-posted to both FFN and AO3. 

Oliver knew he wasn’t going to be comfortable during the ride to Slabside Prison, but it was worse than he could’ve imagined. He was shackled to the seat, which had very little cushion and what was there had several tears in it. The shackles didn’t leave much room for him to change position to relieve his cramping muscles. Across from him sat a guard who, throughout the first half of the trip, would occasionally ask him seemingly harmless questions about being the Green Arrow and his life as mayor. Oliver attempted to deflect him as much as possible, until he finally had enough and asked politely to be left alone. 

“Hey guys, Mr. Big and Mighty Superhero wants to be left alone. He doesn’t partake in simple conversation with us lowly folk.”

Oliver knew it was pointless to explain his viewpoint or correct the guard, so he remained silent despite the barbs. As the trip progressed, the guard continued to occasionally throw insults at him in between carrying on a conversation with the other guards. The other two guards then joined in on the harassing of their prisoner. When he pretended to fall asleep, the guard shook him awake. “Hey, where do you think you are at? Sleeping in the back of your fancy limousine? Wake up!”

After three hours, they finally arrived at the prison. They passed through the gate, driving around back. Oliver was ‘assisted’ out the back of the van and led into the prison. He followed the guards through several hallways to a larger room with a counter in front of shelves of gray scrubs. Without being asked what size of clothing he wore, Oliver was handed a gray scrubs outfit with the words ‘Slabside Security Prison’ stamped in black on the back of the shirt. He was then shown into a room where he was told to change his clothes. When changed, he returned to the counter where he was instructed to hand over all his personal effects and the clothing he’d worn into the prison. Oliver was grateful he’d had the foresight to hand over his wedding ring to Felicity, preferring it be with her instead of an impersonal locker. He handed over his wallet with credit cards, cash and his driver’s license as well as his watch, which were put into a locked security drawer. The guard then gave him a set of sheets, a thin blanket, a pillow as well as what appeared to be a small bag of toiletries and was told to follow the guards.

Oliver was then brought to the warden’s office. This surprised Oliver because he’d heard inmates often had to wait weeks before meeting the warden. Upon entering his office, Oliver observed the warden to be a man about fifty years of age, graying black hair, and stocky build. He had on a white dress shirt, sleeves rolled up, with his light gray suit jacket hanging over his office chair. The warden motioned Oliver to take one of the two seats in front of his desk while he sat down himself. Oliver placed his new belongings onto the chair next to him. 

Clearing his throat, the first thing the warden told Oliver was, “We don’t usually review any of our procedures personally with new arrivals. However, because you’re a special case, I wanted to make sure some things are especially reviewed with you upfront and you understand them.” 

Oliver wasn’t sure whether the warden was referring to his vigilante activities or if Oliver were a special case because he’d been the mayor or because his last name was Queen. The warden offered no other clarification. Instead, the man proceeded immediately into an overview of the rules of the prison and handed him a handbook. The warden also explained, even though safety was a top concern, they couldn’t absolutely guarantee his safety from such a dangerous population. He apologized for not being able to place him in protective custody. “However, being sentenced to a supermax prison is like automatically being placed in protective custody, since all inmates are allowed only an hour every day out of their cells. This usually prevents fights and other incidents of any kind to occur.” 

The warden then stopped and looked Oliver squarely in the eye. “I run a trouble-free prison. Any fighting results in a loss of points, which then leads to a loss of privileges. Such things as visitors, phone calls, or visits to the concessionary. You understand me?”

Oliver nodded. “Yes, sir.” He wondered if the warden thought he’d actually start fights while here. Among dangerous prisoners. Without backup. 

The warden next covered the topic of grift or bribery occurring anywhere in the prison. He denied any knowledge of such incidents happening among his staff or in his prison. Oliver kept his face passive but he doubted that meant none existed. 

Such things as visitation and mail regulations were explained as well. “The handbook goes into much more detail. If you have any questions, any guard will be able to address your concerns. Otherwise, if necessary, you may ask to make an appointment with me. However, Queen, I’m a very busy man. I don’t tolerate frivolous complaints, questions or demands. Is this understood?”

“Yes sir.”

“Do you have any questions right now?”

Oliver considered the question but nothing came to mind. At least nothing the warden could answer. And certainly nothing that wouldn’t peg him as a troublemaker or a rules breaker. “No sir,” Oliver answered in a respective tone. 

“You’ll now be brought to your cell by three armed guards. You’ll always be accompanied by at least three armed guards no matter where you go. This time being the exception, you’ll usually be shackled no matter where you go in the prison.” 

Two of the guards walked to either side of his chair and indicated he was to rise. Standing, Oliver picked up his belongings and followed the other guard out of the door. They then began to walk down a maze of corridors, with several stops in between at locked doors with metal detectors for them to go through. By habit, Oliver attempted to keep count of his steps and the twists and turns they were taking, even though he knew it was practically useless to do so. Part of the security of the prison relied on keeping prisoners unaware of their location in context with the outside at all times. 

Oliver carried his bedding and toiletries as they walked along. One of the guards unlocked a door with a sign which said, “Wing A” with his badge and they walked through. Oliver could see rows of doors on either side of the hallway, surrounded by cement walls. He couldn’t see the inmates inside the cells, for there was only a small opening next to the doors only wide enough for what Oliver assumed would be food trays. It reminded him of an old dungeon he’d seen on a rerun of the series “Wild, Wild West”.

One of the only benefits of being in the most secure prison he could see was not having to listen to the other inmates’ insults as he walked past them. But it also meant such inconveniences as having to ask for a disposable shaver every day and having a modified toothbrush which couldn’t be made into a weapon. Among other things. So many things. Not to mention the inability of escaping from it if he needed to. Which he wasn’t planning on anyway. 

He wasn’t told where to stop. Instead, when the guard in front of him stopped without warning, Oliver was suddenly yanked backwards so he wouldn’t run into the guard who unlocked the door and waited until Oliver walked past him into the cell. The door closed behind him with only a loud click. No word was spoken to Oliver throughout this entire time.

Looking around the plain room, Oliver first saw four walls of white, unbroken cement. A small desk made of cement was standing on one side of the room and a cot cemented down was located on the other side of the room. In the corner behind the desk was a shower head inside what appeared like a cement closet and in the other corner was a toilet.

Oliver placed the bedding on the cot, sat in the chair by the desk, and gave a heavy sigh. He’ll make his bed later. For now, he would simply sit and torture himself with what he could’ve done differently. That is, if any ideas could enter his tired brain. As if it mattered, for he was doomed to remain here unless his family figured out a way to get him out. Oliver wasn’t sure if it was even worth their effort to do so. 

Thus began the first day of his prison stay. 

 

~~OQ~~FS~~OQ~~FS~~OQ~~

While Felicity was in her bedroom, Diggle had set William in front of the TV with his favorite video game. Following their discussion, Diggle and Felicity walked back to the living room while Lyla finished talking to Jean. Felicity joined William in front of the TV and watched while he finished his solo game, quietly giving him her support. Diggle took a seat on the couch. 

Lyla came out ten minutes later and joined Dig on the couch. “I will be picking Jean up tomorrow at 9am at her office and bringing her here. I told her we’d have to blindfold her and she made a joke about being in a superhero story.”

“I knew I always liked her,” Dig said. 

Felicity joined them by sitting on a chair next to the sofa. “You were in there for a while. Did she say anything else?”

“I was simply bouncing some ideas with her which she’ll try to look into before tomorrow.” Lyla looked at Felicity and smiled. “I know Jean is cautious, but…” and she leaned towards Felicity to grip her hand, “I promise you, one way or another, we’ll get Oliver out of there. Sooner or later.” 

Felicity nodded, her eyes filling with tears. “I know you and Dig will help us as much as possible.”

Dig looked at Felicity. “If I know my wife, and I do, when she says she’ll do something, she’ll certainly do it, come hell or high water. Okay?”

“Thanks, Dig. I appreciate it.”

“Felicity, I know it’s hard, but keep good thoughts about all of this,” Lyla said. “Otherwise, it’ll swallow you up whole. And you know I know what I’m talking about,” referring to Dig being in prison last year. 

Felicity simply gave her a small smile while trying to make the tears in her eyes disappear. She was getting tired already of all the tears, even though she knew there were many more to come. 

Dig stood up. “I got supper cooking on the stove. We’ll be eating soon.” He looked at his wife. “Honey, would you help me get it on the table?”

Lyla rose and they went into the kitchen. They soon were sitting around the table and eating a quick supper of hamburgers, mixed vegetables and a salad. Felicity thought how Oliver would approve of this type of supper, and her stomach churned. She quickly pushed the thought of him out of her mind and began to follow Dig and William’s conversation about sports. 

~~OQ~~FS~~OQ~~FS~~OQ~~

 

After supper, they watched several sitcoms on TV in an attempt to distract them all. In no time at all, it was time for William to go to bed. He gave Dig a quick hug, Lyla a kiss on her cheek, and then sat beside Felicity on the couch. 

Taking her hand in his, William asked, “Are you going to be okay?”

Felicity cupped his cheek. “You dear boy, it’s supposed to be me asking you that.” She swallowed and continued, “Yes, I’ll be okay as long as you’re okay.”

William sat up straighter and said, “I guess we’ll both be okay then. I’ll see you all tomorrow.” 

Felicity nodded, and the Diggles called out their goodnights as William left. Felicity attempted to hide a few sniffles before attention was drawn back to her. She stood up and told the couple, “I think I’ll head for bed as well.”

The Diggles nodded, both giving her their attempts at smiles. Felicity made her way back to her bedroom and closed the door. She collapsed on the bed again, but this time she burst into quiet sobs. 

Her husband, her love, had left their home this morning, not telling her what he had planned. The stupid, idiotic, self-sacrificing solution he decided was their only option. Without checking with his team, with her. A shot of anger went through her. Before she knew it, the thought of how dare he went through her mind. He had promised, promised, he’d never again make a life-changing decision without consulting her, without letting her know. And the irony is, the first time had been because of William’s existence. And now, now Oliver had left the very same boy in her care. Not that she blamed William. How could she, it wasn’t his fault. But why, oh why, didn’t Oliver tell her what he had planned? 

She should’ve known. She did know. She sensed it, from the moment she saw him give Dig the Arrow suit. She should’ve confronted him there and then with her loud voice until he told her everything. Then her mind reviewed quickly everything which had happened. How she needed to rescue the team from the maze. How she ended up saving Rene. Could she have done that with knowing what Oliver had planned or would she have been too distracted? Could Oliver have led them on the chase for Diaz after having to weather her arguments, her tears, her anger and still be effective?

Last spring, when imprisoned in their own bunker, Oliver had told her it wasn’t her he didn’t trust. It was him. And yet, with that very same self-awareness, he did it again. Because he didn’t trust himself to do what he thought he had to if they’d talked, if he’d told her? It looked that way. 

Sitting up on the edge of her bed, Felicity wiped her eyes and decided right there and then she needed to take Lyla up on the offer of an ARGUS therapist to come to their home to talk to her, and William, if he agreed. She hoped William would agree, because even though he wasn’t a teenager he was awfully close. All the events which had happened over this year could indeed push him into the phase of morose, rebellious, angry teenager, and with her lack of parenting experience or knowledge, Felicity knew it was the last thing she wanted to handle on her own. 

For now, however, she needed to relax so she could fall asleep. Felicity grabbed a blank notebook which she had remembered to pack. Letting out a big breath, Felicity began to journal all her thoughts and feelings regarding the last twelve hours. The words flowed onto the page without much thought.

Before long, it was time to go to bed. There was so much more she could write, but she knew it would be a long and difficult day tomorrow with talking to Jean, so Felicity crawled into bed. She had written a lot of her anger on the page but hadn’t even touched upon her sadness. Now, in the dark, in the quiet of the house, she let herself give in to the outpouring of sadness and grief she’d held in since they’d left the Federal building. She cried until she was almost gagging. Felicity sat up in bed, wiped her eyes and took a cleansing breath. Then she laid back down and began a meditation Oliver had taught her. She had to bring her mind back to the cleansing spot three times before she fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t usually watch any of the prison shows, so I tried to get as much accurate information as I could get from the internet pertaining to life in prison, etc. So hopefully it’s accurate. Or else I can always say this prison is ‘special’ and so have their own rules. Unlike what the series showed at the end of episode 6 x 23, what I had found out was the supermaxes only allow prisoners to be out of their cell one hour a day. Otherwise, they shower, eat and spend most of the day in their cells. It’s why I went that way. (I probably will write one-shots not pertaining to this story with Oliver not sent to a supermax, so we could get to see trouble in the dining room, being jumped on the way to the shower, etc. We shall see.)
> 
> Thank you again for returning and reading this chapter. I hope you found it entertaining and interesting. As always, make this poor writer happy by commenting on what you liked or didn’t like, or any questions you may have. Always appreciated!!!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for returning!!! I especially want to thank all of you who read but don’t review or leave comments. I do appreciate you as well, so I thank you for your interest and your continued reading. But I cannot stress enough what reviews and comments mean to us readers. We don’t critique your remarks or your English. Just saying. We’re too busy doing cartwheels that someone left us a review.
> 
> Without further ado, here’s the next chapter.

Disclaimer: CW/DC own these characters. I’m only borrowing them for a while. I own the original ideas found in this. 

Cross-posted to both FFN and AO3. 

 

Previously: 

Before long, it was time to go to bed. There was so much more she could write, but she knew it would be a long and difficult day tomorrow with talking to Jean, so Felicity crawled into bed. She had written a lot of her anger on the page but hadn’t even touched upon her sadness. Now, in the dark, in the quiet of the house, she let herself give in to the outpouring of sadness and grief she’d held in since they’d left the Federal building. She cried until she was almost gagging. Felicity sat up in bed, wiped her eyes and took a cleansing breath. Then she laid back down and began a meditation Oliver had taught her. She had to bring her mind back to the cleansing spot three times before she fell asleep. 

~~OQ~~FS~~

 

The next morning, instead of sleeping in, Felicity was up at dawn. She wanted to get her mind straight and research some things online, if possible, before Jean arrived. First, she thought she’d do her husband proud and take a walk/jog outside, since it was already such a beautiful day. After she had gone the one mile she thought she’d be able to do, Felicity headed back to the house. She was walking up the driveway when Diggle drove up. He rolled down the window and simply looked at her.

Felicity thought for a moment and gave a deep sigh. “I suppose you followed me.”

Felicity could almost feel the frustration rolling off Dig. “Felicity, how could you forget you shouldn’t be out of the house by yourself without someone with you? Much less observing your surroundings. I didn’t even try to hide from you.”

Looking sheepish, she replied, “I don’t know. My mind on other things?”

Diggle gave a deep sigh and followed her into the house. Felicity said she’d grab a quick shower before breakfast. Diggle told her he’d start cooking; breakfast would be waiting for her when she was ready. 

In the shower she imagined the hot water washing all her concerns and sorrows away, loosening the tension in her muscles one part of her body at a time, and quickly saying a prayer to Yahweh. The latter she hadn’t done since a child, but she thought it was worth a try. She felt better after all that, not much, but better. 

She arrived in the small dining room to observe a table set with a wonderful breakfast of scrambled eggs, pancakes (her favorite), toast, bowl of mixed fruit, and sausage. When she noticed the Diggles hadn’t started, she sniffed. “Oh, you guys. You didn’t have to wait for me.”

“We weren’t, Felicity,” Lyla said. “We actually got started talking about something and forgot to start.” She gave Felicity a small smile and grabbed the covered dish of scrambled eggs beside her and dished herself a portion. The other two followed her lead and they began to eat. 

William walked out into the dining room still in his pajamas, hair tousled. Felicity’s heart skipped a few beats as she looked at what could have been Oliver’s mini-me. Many a morning, upon rising over breakfast, Oliver had often looked like that. Composing herself before William looked over at her, Felicity was able to give him a bright smile. 

“How’d you sleep, Will?”

He shrugged his shoulders, looking down as he slid into a chair. Grabbing a piece of toast and the bowl of fruit, he took a bit of the toast as he dished out some mixed fruit onto his plate. Dig handed him the bowl of scrambled eggs. 

“Okay, I guess,” he mumbled around the bite of toast in his mouth. “What are we doing today?”

“Your father’s lawyer is arriving here in an hour to talk to us about where we stand with getting your father out of jail.” Felicity struggled to put a cheerful spin on it. “I think we’ll find something. If not today, then soon.”

“With you, and Mr. and Mrs. Diggle, working on it, I’m sure Dad will be out in no time.” William was shoveling eggs into his mouth. He looked up from his plate to see the three adults watching him. “I guess I wasn’t very hungry at supper last night.” 

Dig said, “It’s good to see you have an appetite. You have to eat, since you’re growing a foot a day.”

“Ah, Mr. Diggle,” Will said in response to Dig’s teasing. “I can’t help it I’m growing so fast.” 

“I know, Will. I remember how it was. I also had that so-called problem.” Dig smiled at Felicity. “Parents often have a difficult time with their children growing up and wish they’d stay little forever.”

“Especially if they are short, right, Felicity?” Will asked.

“Ha, ha. You know I can always figure out something to get you back, young man.” Felicity reached out and ruffled up his hair even more. Will pulled back, trying to straighten it. 

He whined as he attempted to comb it with his fingers, “Ah, Felicity you messed up it now.” 

The adults simply laughed. They continued to eat and tease each other until everyone was finished. William jumped up to bring the dirty dishes into the kitchen. Lyla smiled at Felicity. “He’s growing up very well, Felicity.” 

“Yeah, I’d normally say ‘way too fast’, because isn’t that what parents always say? But it’s more than wishing William would stay little forever. With everything he’s exposed to, being Oliver’s son, I worry about him so. I just don’t know...”

Diggle interrupted what he could tell would be one of her famous babbles. “He’s turning out alright, despite the circumstances, Felicity. And that’s only because he’s blessed to have the two of you as parents.” 

Felicity reached out and grasped his hand in gratitude. “Thank you, Dig. I so needed reassurance today.” Looking at her watch, she stood up. “I suppose we should hurry and get ready. Jean should be arriving soon.” 

“Not if I don’t leave now to go get her,” Lyla said, rushing to her husband for a quick kiss. “I’ll be back shortly. Don’t get into too much trouble.”

Dig grunted an answer as he watched his wife disappear. “So, are you doing okay, Felicity?”

“Ask me later, Dig, all right? I’m going to go look over my notes before Jean arrives.”

Dig watched the younger woman leave the room. He hoped she would indeed be all right. He joined William in the kitchen to help with the dishes. 

~~OQ~~FS~~OQ~~FS~~OQ~~

Lyla walked Jean and her assistant, a young man with bright blonde hair, into the house while Dig and Felicity waited in the living room. After shutting the front door, Lyla told the two lawyers they could remove their blindfolds. They did, handing them to Lyla. Will was in his room reading one of his assigned books for the summer. Felicity didn’t wait to get to the point. 

“Okay, Jean, what can we do to get Oliver back home where he belongs?”

“Felicity,” Diggle said, attempting to remind her to take it easy. 

“It’s all right, Mr. Diggle. I certainly understand Felicity’s anger and impatience. I’d certainly feel the same way in her shoes.” Pulling out a pile of papers clipped together, Jean looked at the others. “This isn’t going to be easy, like I told Felicity yesterday.” Looking at the young man sitting beside her on the couch, Jean made introductions. “This is Thomas Weber, one of our legal assistants. He will be taking notes and emailing those to you later, Felicity.”

Felicity gave Thomas a quick smile and turned abruptly towards Jean. “Can we start by you explaining how the federal government can charge Oliver the exact same crimes as the state? What about double jeopardy?” Felicity asked. “I didn’t have a chance to look into this myself.”

“Understandable, Felicity. Double jeopardy only refers to the same court bringing up the same charges. The state cannot retry Oliver for the same charges, but the federal government can, as long as they’re found also to be federal crimes.”

“Sounds like a possible loophole there,” Diggle said. 

“Yeah, possibly. I was hoping none of the Arrow’s so-called crimes took place on federal grounds, or against federal employees. However, not so.” As Felicity’s face fell, Jean said, “But we could get some of the charges reduced, however.” 

“Do you have a copy of the agreement that bone-head husband of mine signed yesterday?” Felicity asked. 

“No,” looking at her assistant, Jean asked him to make a note. “We have to get it. Among other things.” The young man scribbled in a notebook he had placed on his lap. 

Meeting Felicity’s gaze once again, Jean said, “We’ll check it over and see if there are any loopholes, like Mr. Diggle called them.” Jean took a moment to look each person in the eye. “Rest assured, I’m going to pull in the best help I can to scour the laws, federal and state, and I’ll also let you know what assistance you all can provide. Things such as reaching out to the public to begin collecting signed petitions, both physical and online, and contacting the various political representatives. Hunting down the people Oliver helped by his Arrow duties to get their testimonials. Among other things.”

“What about all the good he has done as mayor as well? Couldn’t we use those achievements as well?” Felicity asked. 

“Good idea. Depending upon what they are, we could.” 

Felicity watched as the young assistant continued to scribble, seemingly taking down notes on all they brought up. “The other major thing which bothers me is about Watson herself.”

“I agree,” Jean said. “What about her? Do we have any information about her at all? Years at the agency, any personal grievances or connections she might have to Oliver, did she actually have the authority to make such an agreement? And why didn’t the FBI act more quickly when Star City was floundering?” She looked at Thomas, who met her gaze with a nod as he continued to write in his tablet.

“Is it possible she didn’t act within her realm of responsibility? Or that she’s dirty?” Dig asked. 

“Anything is possible.” As Diggle was about to say something, Jean said, “That’s not what you meant though. You wonder what I think is actually the case?” As the other three people nodded, she said, “I havent had a chance to gather enough information to make a guess.”

“Not at all?” Felicity asked. Jean shook her head. “I’ll see what I can find out. I can’t believe I didn’t do that as soon as she started nosing around us.” 

“Because you didn’t want to leave any footprints on web sites unnecessarily,” Dig said. “Which made sense, at the time, considering a federal agency was gunning for us.”

Suddenly, Felicity felt as though everything in the world was pushing down on her. She pressed the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger, having picked up the habit from Oliver. “Oh, Dig, I simply can’t believe this all is happening. Why? Oliver has survived so very much, and we as a mission have survived so much, why this? Why now?”

Dig patted her hand. “I know. I can’t believe it either.”

Jean stood up. Her assistant followed suit. “I’m sorry you’re going through all of this, Felicity. Well, all of you. None of you deserves this. We won’t give up, though, until Oliver is home.” Meeting Felicity’s gaze, she said, “Lyla gave me the secured email address to contact you. As soon as we get to the office, Thomas will type up our notes and email them to you.”

Felicity nodded, unable to trust her voice. Lyla stood up and shook hands with both lawyers. Dig copied the gesture as Lyla handed them their blindfolds once more. “Again, I apologize but I insist upon this for security.” 

They nodded. Dig joined them to assist Lyla in guiding the lawyers to their car. Felicity sat back on the couch and placed her head in her hands, resting her elbows on her upper legs. All she wanted was to go into her bedroom and cry until she couldn’t any more. But she had work to do. The sooner they apprehended Diaz and found some way to get Oliver out of prison, the sooner he’d be back in his arms. Where he belonged.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There we go. Now Oliver has his lawyer in his corner, as well as Delicity checking into things. Next chapter we shall see how Oliver is faring in prison. Thanks for reading!!!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m so happy this has gotten such a wonderful response from you readers!!! Thank you for all the comments, kudos, favs and follows, for this. Always appreciated. Now let’s see how Oliver is doing.

Disclaimer: CW/DC own these characters. I’m only borrowing them for a while. I own the original ideas found in this. 

Cross-posted to both FFN and AO3. 

 

The days soon fell into a routine for Oliver because that was what life in prison was like. His assigned hour of recreation out of his cell happened to fall at 2am. One of the guards didn’t miss the opportunity to be snarky with him as he explained, in a spiteful tone, because he could sleep any time, Oliver wouldn’t exactly be losing sleep by having to be up in the middle of the night. Besides, he was used to keeping late hours, wasn’t he? Oliver was surprised how adept he’d become again with controlling his reactions to such comments, allowing the comment to roll off him. It was only when his family was insulted he had difficulty controlling his emotions. 

Oliver quickly became accustomed to falling asleep by ten p.m. and getting up at 2 am. Sleeping for four hours was almost the amount he’d been sleeping since the island, before he and Felicity became a couple. Without Felicity beside him in bed, Oliver doubted he’d ever be able to sleep more than five hours at a time ever again. If needed to, he could lie down again when he returned to his cell at 3 am and sleep or rest until 6am when breakfast was served. So far, he’d only been able to force his body to rest, not sleep, during that time. 

Because of the need for security, there wasn’t much opportunity to get to know the various guards. Not only did Oliver have the almost constant isolation from the outside, he’d also had to adjust to not having friendly exchanges with people. He never thought he’d miss idle gossip or chatting about nothing with strangers, but how he did now! The up side was he didn’t have to hear the inevitable jeers, insults and threats from the other prisoners, since due to security risks they weren’t allowed to interact with one another.

One thing which frustrated Oliver was how, during his rec time, he could only choose one out of three activities each day: exercise, get items from the concessionary, or books to read from the library. However, his first weeks he didn’t have much choice because he didn’t have any money in his account. They wouldn’t take the money which had been in his wallet upon entering. No, Felicity needed to make deposits into his account for him to have money to spend at the concessionary. He knew there must be a security reason for this restriction, but for the life of him Oliver couldn’t figure it out. They’d also informed him he couldn’t receive visitors the first two weeks of his stay, so hopefully in another week he’d get to see his family, as well as get money. 

For the first eleven days of his incarceration, Oliver kept his guard up, waiting for any surprise night visits from corrupt guards or prisoners. Even though the warden had told him such things weren’t possible, Oliver never took anything for granted. However, this time passed without incident. He fell into a pattern of sleeping, exercising in his cell and reading anything he got ahold of, anything to keep his mind off the tremendous mistake he had made by going to Watson. Until one night. 

The attempt was made at 1am, when he was in the deep stage of sleeping. In the past, he never would’ve been caught off guard. For some reason, his guard was lowered and he was sleeping deeper than usual. On some level, he registered the scraping sounds as someone opening his cell door, but he was too groggy to react. Before he knew it, Oliver was grabbed from behind in a choke hold as he tried to sit up in bed and felt a knife at his throat. When the light in his cell was turned on, six men surrounded Oliver in the small cell. Not enough room for him to defend himself but enough room for them to kill him, if that was their intent. 

It wasn’t their intent. Not this night, at least. With only a modicum of surprise, Oliver realized he was surrounded by men he’d put away for crimes usually done under the order of one of his most deadly enemies. Knowing they most likely knew everything Slade, Merlyn or Chase had on him and/or the vigilante only added to his apprehension. The thought crossed his mind wondering which guard was on the take to allow such a thing to happen. He quickly shoved that question aside to think about later. 

A man, approximately thirty years old, dark black hair and thick beard, stepped out of the line, closer to Oliver. “Let me introduce ourselves, Mr. Queen. We’re part of the gang running this prison. Anything you need, you ask us. Any questions you might have, ask us. Cross us, and you’re dead. We don’t ask twice. We have ways of going around the guards, like tonight, to get the opportunity to talk to you. Give you the lay of the land, so to speak.”

Oliver nodded slightly, never breaking eye contact with the man, remaining aware of the knife at his throat. Oliver sensed the man holding him was at least three inches taller and much broader than he was. His mind was also trying to remember the name of the gang ruling Slabside, but for some reason he couldn’t recall it. The gang had been especially successful with keeping such a low profile Oliver hadn’t heard any information whatsoever on them. And, of course, Felicity hadn’t been given the opportunity to research such useful information before he’d been carted away. 

Suddenly he felt a slight prick of the knife interrupting his thoughts. “Julio expects an answer.” Oliver flinched slightly.

Oliver asked himself, Answer to what? “I understand so far.”

“No, I don’t think you do, Mr. Queen. To stay on our good side, we need, shall we say, a monetary reward.”

“A bribe,” came unwittingly out of his mouth before he could stop it. He received another small stab from the knife as a reminder not to speak unless told to. 

“I see we understand each other.”

“And if I don’t or can’t pay?”

“Mr. Queen, I hear you’re a rather smart guy. And rich. I don’t think either one of those circumstances will occur, do you?” Oliver remained silent, so the man continued. “But if you don’t pay? We’ll start breaking bones then go from there.”

“I just got here. I’ve still got three days until visitors’ day to wait for my wife to deposit money.”

Julio nodded in understanding. “Well, we’re going to start small. One thousand dollars.”

One thousand dollars? Oliver chose not to answer or show any emotion. “I was told the most I can have in my account at any one time was only $300. How am I to give you such an amount?”

“Glad you asked, Mr. Queen. You see, one of our guards will be present when you talk to your wife. You’ll write a note to your wife which he’ll slip into your wife’s pocket or purse without her knowing it. It’ll instruct her to bring a prepaid credit card with a thousand dollars on it the next visitors’ day. At that time she’ll leave it in the pocket of her coat, where another guard will be able to ‘collect’ it.”

“And you can accomplish all this without getting caught on the surveillance tapes?”

“Yes, the guards on our payroll are very gifted in the skill of pickpocketing. So you don’t have to worry about it, Mr. Queen.” Julio waited a moment. “Do you have any other questions?”

Oliver didn’t like how Julio kept emphasizing ‘Mr. Queen’, knowing in prison the prisoners aren’t referred to by their names, or in any polite sort of way. 

“Am I to know the name of the gang in control here at Slabside?”

“Of course.” Leaning closer to the bed, Julio said, “We’re the Scorpions.”

Oliver couldn’t completely control his reaction. He was certain his face turned slightly pale, and he knew he’d flinched slightly when Julio said the name of Diaz’ former gang. As a smile appeared on Julio’s face, Oliver knew his reactions hadn’t been overlooked. 

Taking a few steps to the side, Julio turned back towards Oliver. “So, Mr. Queen, you recognize the significance of our name? And who the ultimate guy in charge is?” 

“No, I don’t, actually.” At a slightly deeper press of the knife into his skin, Oliver realized he’d better try again. “I suppose you mean Diaz.”

Oliver watched Julio take a few steps closer to his bed. “Of course. Mr. Diaz is very, very upset you stopped him having control over his adopted city. You embarrassed him tremendously before his criminal peers.” Julio leaned into Oliver’s personal space, whispering into his ear. “Got any idea what he does to people who’ve embarrassed him?”

Oliver had a flashback as to the autopsy report on Jesse Federico, Diaz’ childhood enemy. His body had been found the next day by police when they’d gone to investigate an anonymous report. Jesse had been burned alive, with barely any bones remaining for identification of the remains. 

The man holding the knife allowed Oliver’s head to fall back onto the mattress as he got up from the cot. Oliver allowed himself to breath regularly and waited for Julio to speak again. He restrained from rubbing his neck. At the slight nod from Julio, Oliver sat on the edge of his cot.

“We shall see you next Thursday then, Mr. Queen. Get our note written and a guard will tell you how it’ll be collected. Pleasure to meet you.” 

Oliver didn’t move a muscle while he watched them leave. When his cell door banged shut, Oliver let his head drop into his hands. After a moment, he carded his hands through his hair as he considered the events which had just taken place. 

Oliver had realized, as soon as he was on his way to Slabside, that this was an unbelievably bad idea. Even if, in theory, he was willing to do anything to keep Felicity and William safe. He should’ve known Diaz would have allies within the prison. But he assumed, and the warden even had reassured him, he’d be safe in here. 

Now he realized not only did he have to worry about Diaz having a way to get at him while he was here, he still hadn’t heard which other, more dangerous criminals looking for revenge, were now at Slabside. Unfortunately, Watson hadn’t been able, or willing, to tell him those names. He’d never gone into a dangerous situation with as little preparation as he’d done committing himself to a maximum-security prison. 

His hope of keeping Felicity ignorant of any threats against himself was also now destroyed by Julio and his gang. How dare they ask for such a large amount, and how dare they involve his wife? For a split second Oliver considered going to the warden and informing the man of what was going on in his prison. Just as quickly as he’d thought of it, he discarded the notion. As far as he knew the warden could be in on the scam. At the worst, Oliver could be endangering the man in informing him of the incident. He also wouldn’t be doing himself any favors as well.

Oliver looked at his watch. He was about to be taken out for his rec hour. It was good timing; he needed to expend the adrenaline coursing through his body. Oliver laid back on his cot and attempted to calm himself with a meditation while waiting for the guard to arrive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This idea to stick with the realistic way maximum-security prisons are run, unlike the show looks like it will be, sure interferes with writing Oliver in danger. No fights in the shower or dining room, etc. Ha. Oh well. Looking on the bright side, it gives me a challenge by forcing me to be more inventive with the dangers Oliver faces. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and let me know by leaving a comment. Thanks!!!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for returning and for all the positive comments and reviews, kudos, favs and follows!! I appreciate it, as always. 
> 
> Now we catch up with Felicity.

Disclaimer: CW/DC own these characters. I’m only borrowing them for a while. I own the original ideas found in this. 

Cross-posted to both FFN and AO3. 

 

Previously: 

Felicity sat back on the couch and placed her head in her hands, resting her elbows on her upper legs. All she wanted was to go into her bedroom and cry until she couldn’t any more. But she had work to do. The sooner they apprehended Diaz and found some way to get Oliver out of prison, the sooner he’d be back in his arms. Where he belonged. 

 

~~OQ~~FS~~

Felicity collected herself. She had other responsibilities before she sat down to search the internet. Since they were returning to their home today, she and William had to pack. Even though she knew both Diggles were against it, Felicity knew it would be best for her and William to be at home. In familiar surroundings. Despite everything. 

Suddenly she recalled their last evening in their apartment. Diaz’s gang had shot up the place, and Felicity had given Raisa a few days off to recover from the events of the past few days. Felicity grabbed her cell phone and looked up a maid service and contracted them to clean their home from the mess. For an extra fee, they were able to go there this afternoon. And because of the reason for the mess, she had to pay another extra amount. However, it would be worth it, for by the time they arrived back in Star City, their home would be livable again. 

Felicity worried her lower lip with her front teeth. Was it really the wisest thing to return to the place where they almost lost their lives? She simply didn’t have the energy to think about looking for a new place to live, and she didn’t want to live in a hotel for several days until she found one. 

Rubbing her forehead felt so good it helped center her. They’ll be all right in their own home. Diaz wasn’t going to win by scaring them away. Should nightmares occur for either of them, they’ll deal with them. Head on. Which was probably the best thing they could do, directly dealing with their feelings, versus burying them like a certain pig-headed, stupid husband she could name was wont to do. 

Felicity shook her head to stop the Oliver-bashing. She had better things to do. Calling for William, she was determined they be ready to go when the Diggles returned. She asked him if he was still willing to go home. “It’s Dad’s home, too, and it wouldn’t feel right not to be there when he returned.” Felicity didn’t have the heart to remind him they had no guarantee his father would ever come back to them. Will rushed to his room to pack the few belongings he had brought while she went to her room to do the same. 

 

~~OQ~~FS~~OQ~~FS~~OQ~~

 

Felicity and William spent the next week becoming accustomed to their new routine. For security’s sake, Felicity planned to work from home on her company for several hours each day. However, she wanted to spend most of the day working on getting her husband out of jail. As a place to start, she had the list Jean’s assistant had emailed her.

However, before she could continue her plan the second day, a package arrived for her by special delivery. She rolled her eyes at Dig’s insistence she allow the ARGUS agent to open it. The agent had to don a special outfit, mask and gloves, and he opened it outside with Dig watching from a distance. Felicity wasn’t sure if she appreciated the caution versus the invasion of privacy, but Dig didn’t give her any other choice. 

It was from Slabside. A family guide which explained what having a loved one in prison meant. Felicity rolled her eyes at the attempt to ‘normalize’ the experience of by reading how to act when she visited her husband in prison. Her mood didn’t improve when she read she wasn’t allowed to visit for two weeks, and that Oliver wouldn’t have any money to spend at the concessionary until she put some in his account. 

Dig was sitting with her in the living room as she read and attempted to comprehend the information. She turned to him in frustration. “Have you ever read one of these?” she asked before she remembered Dig’s brother had been in prison. Her face reddened and she apologized. 

“It’s because I’m so upset about all of this. Oliver doesn’t have any money to buy anything he needs.”

“Everything he needs is provided for him, Felicity.”

“You know what I mean, like snacks, or…or whatever else he can buy.”

“At least he doesn’t smoke.”

Felicity gave a snort of disgust at Dig’s attempt at a joke. “Not funny, Dig. And get this, Oliver can’t have any visitors for two weeks.”

“It’s standard procedure, Felicity.”

“Doesn’t mean I have to like it. Who knows what can happen to him in two weeks, Dig!”

Dig rubbed his chin. “I know, Felicity.” He looked her right in the eye. “He’s going to be alright.” At her sniffle, Dig swallowed. “You know Oliver. He’s survived worse.”

“I don’t know, Dig. I just don’t know.” 

Dig got up and, as he walked past her into the kitchen, he squeezed her shoulder lightly in support. Felicity stared out the window and tried not to think of her husband bloody and bruised from the many fights she imagined he’d be caught up in. Suddenly she grabbed the notepad she kept on the coffee table for ideas regarding her start-up and began a list of items to research. The images of a bloody Oliver had triggered a reminder that she needed to hack into the prison system and see for herself which of their enemies Oliver was sharing a roof with. Who she’d have to worry whether they’d kill her husband before she can visit him the first time. 

Felicity then added such things as hacking into the prison cameras to see into Oliver’s cell (most likely) and the common areas where he’d be spending his rec hour. Felicity didn’t know much about prisons and how they worked, only because she’d concentrated most of her research on how to put criminals there. She was shocked to find Oliver would spend twenty-three hours a day in a cell, with hardly any human contact. She scribbled “check whether humane to lock people 23 hours a day”. You would’ve thought human rights activists would’ve been working on getting that changed. Even the worse of criminals didn’t deserve that, she thought. 

Dig returned with two cups of coffee and handed her one. Sipping, she waited for Dig to ask whatever was on his mind. She didn’t have to wait long. 

“So you’re okay with visiting Oliver in prison?”

“Why shouldn’t I? What do you mean exactly, Dig?”

“I thought you’d still be too angry at him to want to see him.”

“He’s still my husband. I still want my marriage to work. Am I still angry as heck at him? Of course. Will it spill into my visit? Probably. But I only have thirty minutes to visit with him, and we have a lot to discuss. Trying to discuss this…this grievous act of stupidity on his part in such a short time would just be stupid. And nonproductive.” Dig nodded. Felicity sipped her coffee then added, “Besides, right now I miss him too much and am too worried about him to spend too much time being angry at him. It wouldn’t change things…for now.”

“When will you discuss it with him then?”

“Hopefully once we get him out and back home, he’ll have plenty of time to work on gaining my forgiveness.” At Dig’s look, Felicity said, “I know, Dig, we might not get him out. If that happens, I’ll figure out how to discuss my anger with my husband. Until then, we have more important things to think about.” 

Dig nodded, giving her a smile she could tell was forced. How she appreciated his friendship! It occurred to her she should tell him that. “Dig, do you know how much I love you. I mean, love you as a friend. Not because I don’t find you attractive, I….”

“I’m going to stop you right there. I do know how much you appreciate my friendship, Felicity. I appreciate you saying so.”

Her face bright red, Felicity murmured, “Thanks Dig.”

 

~~OQ~~FS~~OQ~~FS~~OQ~~

It was finally visitors’ day, the first possible day to see Oliver again, talk to him, since he’d been dragged away from them. It had been a long two weeks. They weren’t even allowed a phone call, because prisoners had to ‘earn’ them. Felicity wasn’t exactly sure how they could earn merits, for they were locked in their cell for most of the time. She had only the stomach to skim through the rest of the handbook to see if there was anything necessary to know for her visit. Felicity decided she’ll try to comprehend more when she was less angry. With everything. 

Felicity left her wedding ring in her jewelry box, since no jewelry was allowed in the prison. It was easier to simply leave it safely at home. She brought three hundred dollars in cash for Oliver’s account, since the prison couldn’t or wouldn’t take checks. So many rules!

She almost wore one of Oliver’s favorite dresses of hers but she quickly realized she didn’t want to wear a skirt or dress showing off her legs to any prisoners she might see. The thought of receiving any catcalls or insults from dangerous criminals under the same roof as her husband sent a shiver down her back. Instead she wore a simple light blue blouse and her looser-fitting jeans (the pair she usually wore when she was “feeling fat”). 

William had wanted to come with, but Felicity wanted some time alone with him. They had a lot to discuss. She could tell William was disappointed, but Felicity wanted to make sure Oliver was doing…okay…in prison. Both physically and mentally. Before William visited him. Also, she wanted to get rid of the awkwardness she was sure was going to occur. 

Dig insisted on driving her to the prison, since it was a three-hour drive. Felicity didn’t know if she was secretly relieved or angry she wouldn’t have the time alone to process what was ahead of her. When they arrived, he walked her up to the gate. He squeezed her shoulder in passing and left to wait in the car. Felicity was also aware, without him saying it aloud, that he was there during her visit in case she needed help. Of any sort. 

She had to call the day she was to visit and schedule time with Oliver. It was explained that, because of the need for security, they needed to spread out the visits throughout the population. Only a few could meet with their visitors at a time. It was the day of, for circumstances could easily or quickly change which would prevent the visit. Felicity chose not to think about the type of circumstances these were. 

Felicity was met inside at the entrance by a tall, blonde man with shoulders rivaling her husband’s. He asked to check her purse, then showed her the line in which to wait to deposit Oliver’s money. The line wasn’t long but being so close to Oliver with all these delays was wearing down her patience. A shorter woman, with gray sprinkled throughout her hair, took the money and added it to his account. After she was finished, the woman directed Felicity to the other end of the room, where she was met by another guard, who directed her down a hallway where yet another guard directed her into the last room on her left. He told her ‘the prisoner’ would be in shortly. Felicity withheld a shudder at the label but knew there was nothing she could do about it. She had read prisoners were usually referred only by a number instead of their name. 

Felicity was looking at her cuticles and picking at them, as per one of her nervous habits, when she heard chains clanging. Oliver walked in, head down, with shackles connected to his wrists and ankles, coming together to a chain around his waist. A guard was right behind him. Felicity attempted to keep her face unexpressive, but her eyes closed reflexively while he was sitting down. Luckily, she was able to meet his gaze when he looked at her as the guard chained him to the table. 

“Hello,” she managed to say through numb lips.

She watched as her husband swallowed before answering. “I was afraid you wouldn’t visit.”

Felicity metaphorically bit her tongue so she wouldn’t give him a snippy or sarcastic reply. “I told Dig I wouldn’t want to discuss the issue at this time. Thirty minutes isn’t long enough to do the subject justice.”

“When will we discuss it then? I’m under six life sentences, Felicity.” 

Felicity closed her eyes again. Opening them she said, “Okay, then, Oliver, why the hell –” her voice rising, the guard caught her attention and she lowered her voice, “I know we discussed this in the hospital, but for the life of me, Oliver, why didn’t you consider the possibility we – you, me and Dig – that we could come up with a better solution? We beat Malcolm, Slade, Ra’s, Damien Darhk, even Chase, without…without simply giving up.”

“Felicity, you know this wasn’t about me giving up.”

“It feels like it, Oliver. Your son has been crying himself to sleep every night. Did you consider that possibility before you agreed to Watson’s deal?”

“At least you and William are alive and safe.”

“What kind of life would we have hiding in protective custody, Oliver? Not to mention after Diaz is caught?”

“Felicity, don’t tell me you and William aren’t in protective custody.”

Felicity gave her husband the coldest look she’d ever given him. Arching an eyebrow, she asked, “You didn’t ask us our opinion whether we wanted protective custody, Oliver. Nor our thoughts on Watson’s deal. Why should I consider what you want now?”

“Because this –” Oliver lowered his voice when the guard took a step towards him in warning. “Because it’s dangerous for the two of you with Diaz still out there.”

“No more dangerous than it will be with him in prison, you in here, and William and I facing public ridicule and God knows how many other criminals out for vengeance against you, against us?” When Oliver flinched, Felicity asked, “You didn’t think about that, did you? How are we to survive the backlash of your outing yourself as the Green Arrow? Not only that, but the Hood and Arrow as well?”

“It was so Roy could return, or at least have a normal life again. Under his own name, and marry Thea, if that’s what they both want.” 

Felicity covered her face with her hands. Trying to maintain control, when they were discussing the very issue she hadn’t wanted to discuss, she knew she didn’t want to lose it inside the prison. She also didn’t want to be arrested for strangling her husband while he was in chains. At the sound of her name, Felicity raised her head to look at her husband. 

“I’m sorry,” Oliver whispered. “I just didn’t know what else we could do.”

When she didn’t answer, Oliver asked quietly, “How’s William? Is he here?”

“Besides not understanding any of this, he’s doing as well as to be expected. He’s not here because I was afraid, even though I wanted to avoid it, we’d discuss your stupidity and I didn’t know how that discussion would go.” Clearing her throat she added, “I also was concerned regarding what condition we’d find you in.”

A questioning look crossed Oliver’s face. “Why’d you think that?”

“Really Oliver, you have to ask? Here you are in prison, outed as a type of law enforcer, in an environment with some of the most vicious criminals ever, and God knows how many we personally put away? And you wonder why I worry?”

Suddenly Felicity knew her husband was hiding something from her. He tried to hide it, but he still couldn’t control his tell of rubbing his thumb and index finger together. He caught her looking at his hands and the nervous habit stopped. Felicity debated whether she should call him on that, but he looked at her with a pleading look in his eyes. Hacking into the prison cameras was now her number one priority once she returned home. To find out what Oliver wasn’t telling her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I had to split the conversation up, those two have a lot to discuss, don’t they? Thanks for returning again to this story and I hope it’s still entertaining you. Cannot believe suddenly I only have about six weeks to supposedly get this story wrapped up. Ha!! Oh well. Cheer me up but also celebrate the show’s returning by posting a comment, review, and/or kudo. Always appreciated!!!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for returning!! Let’s see how Olicity’s first visit ends and what Felicity’s reaction to the note is. Thanks for all the reviews, comments, kudos and follows. Really, very appreciative.

Disclaimer: CW/DC own these characters. I’m only borrowing them for a while. I own the original ideas found in this. 

Cross-posted to both FFN and AO3. 

 

Previously: 

“Really Oliver, you have to ask? Here you are in prison, outed as a type of law enforcer, in an environment with some of the most vicious criminals ever, and God knows how many we personally put away? And you wonder why I worry?”

Suddenly Felicity knew her husband was hiding something from her. He tried to hide it, but he still couldn’t control his tell of rubbing his thumb and index finger together. He caught her looking at his hands and the nervous habit stopped. Felicity debated whether she should call him on that, but he looked at her with a pleading look in his eyes. Hacking into the prison cameras was now her number one priority once she returned home. To find out what Oliver wasn’t telling her. 

 

~~OQ~~FS~~

The guard interrupted them. “You have ten minutes left.”

Felicity gave a sigh and looked down at her hands. There was so much more she wanted to say, so much she should’ve said. How will they be able to fit it all in thirty-minute increments, if that was all they were going to get, for the rest of their lives? She pushed such dire thoughts away from her mind. 

“Give William my love, please. Tell him….” Oliver bit his lower lip so a gasp wouldn’t sneak out. Felicity knew it wouldn’t do Oliver any favors if the guard would see him break down. “Tell him I love him and hope to see you both next week.” 

“Okay.” After a moment, Felicity said, “Please watch your back, Oliver. Take care. Don’t antagonize anyone.”

“You know me, honey.” The endearment snuck out. Oliver closed his eyes in frustration for a moment and opened them again. His face lost the momentary teasing look it had. “I’ll try,” he whispered. 

“Can I at least give him a kiss, or hold his hand?” Felicity asked. 

The guard shook his head. Felicity looked down to hide the tears which had appeared in her eyes. 

“Felicity, you know if I thought there was any other way….”

She nodded. “I know, Oliver. That’s what makes this even tougher.” 

She stood up, wanting to run out of the room. “Ma’am, please sit down. We need to leave first,” she heard the guard say. 

Felicity scrunched her eyes tightly shut. Oh how she hated every single moment of all of this! She blew out a breath and sat down. She mouthed ‘I love you’ as the guard yanked Oliver to his feet. 

“I love you, Felicity,” Oliver said, making sure he said her name in the special way she used to love. 

“I still love how you say my name, you know.” Felicity gave the love of her life a weak smile. 

He winked at her and then turned to go out the door. As soon as they left, Felicity bowed her head once more and allowed the tears to fall into her lap for a moment. She then reached into her pocket to grab a tissue and pulled out a piece of paper she didn’t recognize. 

“Ma’am, please exit the room. We have other people waiting.”

She looked up at the guard waiting for her at the door. She sniffed, nodding at the guard, and pushed the paper back into her pocket and left the room. The man pointed towards a door the opposite way from which she had entered the hallway. “Please go out this way, Ma’am.”

Felicity was about to tell him not to call her ‘ma’am’ but she knew it wouldn’t make a difference. She thanked him and walked through the door. There was another female guard standing there who directed her to continue down the hallway and take a left. At the end of that hallway, another male guard was there, who opened the door and let her outside. 

The sunshine was too bright against her eyes, considering the prison hallways were dingy and dimly lit. She looked down the rows of cars and saw Dig leaning against his car waiting for her. Felicity walked towards him with a determined gait, childishly not wanting to show her fear or disgust by running away from the prison as fast as she could. Even though she wanted to. 

Dig didn’t say a word as they got into the car and took off. Felicity sat watching the scenery go by her window, staring at it blindly and not thinking about anything. 

After fifteen minutes, Dig’s voice broke the silence. “You okay?”

Felicity nodded, continuing to look out the window. 

“It wasn’t too bad waiting for you out by the car. It’s a nice day after all. No jail breaks happened while you were in there.” When he didn’t get any response, Dig asked, “Anything else happen?”

Felicity shook her head, not registering what he had said, only wanting to sit in her numbness. Not knowing what to do or say to get her heart to beat again after having to leave her husband in that terrible place. 

Ten more minutes passed before Dig couldn’t stand it anymore. “Felicity, I’m going to bug you until you say more than two words to me.”

Felicity turned in the car seat and glared at him. “Dig, what do you want me to say? We got some of the air cleared? That I’m still so mad at him I almost had to sit on my hands to not strangle him with his own chains?” She sniffed. “Dig, he was in chains. Like in prison movies. Shackles.”

“I know.”

“And he only apologized to me at least three times. It’s almost as if he didn’t know what else to say.”

“He probably didn’t.” 

Felicity put her hand in her pocket looking for a tissue. This time she pulled out a note and remembered to look at it. She screamed suddenly, causing Dig to almost drive off the road. 

Looking at her frantically while trying to keep an eye on the road, he asked, “Holy crap, Felicity! What’s wrong?”

Her only response was to turn to look at him, a hand covering her mouth, her eyes wide with unshed tears. Dig immediately pulled over to the side of the road and took the piece of paper out of her lax hand. 

It read: 

My dear Felicity: 

Please don’t worry (I know impossible with what I’m about to say). However, Diaz’ gang is here and is requesting money to ‘protect’ me from the other prisoners. You are to bring one thousand dollars on a prepaid charge card every visitors’ day and leave it in your left coat pocket. You are not to draw attention to it or ask me about it at all. One of the guards will take it sometime from your pocket while you’re at the prison. This is all I can say.

Love always,   
Your Oliver

 

Dig and Felicity looked at each other a full thirty seconds. Dig broke the silence with “Diaz, huh? As if this couldn’t get any worse.” He slowly combed his hands through his hair. 

“How the frack is he supposed to survive in there, Dig? All I thought he’d have to worry about was the other prisoners. Now we find out not only isn’t Diaz’ gang disbanded, they’re alive and thriving within the prison? I have half a mind to go speak to the warden – ”

“And what, Felicity? Either it wouldn’t do any good but put a larger target on Oliver or make the warden himself a target. If he’s not in on it already.”

“Of course he’s in on it! How could something like this exist without his allowing it? And how in the world are they able to get around to threatening Oliver? All the prisoners are confined to their own cells twenty-three hours a day.” Felicity slammed her hand on the armrest. “I knew there was something he wasn’t telling me. Uck!”

A small smile broke out on Dig’s face. “The boy still can’t lie to you worth his life, can he?”

A small grin broke out in answer on Felicity’s face. “He never could.” She lightly punched Dig on his upper arm. “You weren’t any better.”

“I know.” 

“I don’t know why I didn’t call you guys on the ‘sports drink in syringes’ excuse.”

For a moment, the two lost themselves in the joy of sharing a laugh and a pleasant memory. Felicity wiped her eyes. “Thanks Dig, I needed that.”

“We both did. Don’t worry, Felicity, Oliver has survived much worse.”

“You keep telling me that, but it only gets worse.”

“You guys do have the money, don’t you?”

“Not if this lasts over a year.”

“It wouldn’t.” Dig turned his attention back to the road as he got back on the highway. “You’ll figure something out, Felicity. You always do.” 

“Yeah, I wish Oliver had remembered that before he agreed to this entire mess,” Felicity said softly as she looked down at her hands playing with the note. 

 

~~OQ~~FS~~OQ~~FS~~OQ~~

 

Two days after Felicity had visited, Oliver was in the exercise room during his rec hour. It was larger than Oliver had expected it to be, considering only one prisoner could be in here at a time. In one corner was a weight bench with free weights along the wall. In another corner was a weight machine while across from it were exercise machines including a treadmill, exercise bike, rower and a stepper. 

After jogging in place for ten minutes to warm up, Oliver had used a medicine ball at first, which he placed beside the weight bench when finished with it. Oliver selected his preferred weights then applied chalk to his hands. He set the chalk can down beside the medicine ball before lying down on the bench. As he began doing reps, Oliver lost himself in the simple pattern of lifting the free weights, relishing the burn of his muscles, relieving the stress he still felt from Felicity’s visit. It had gone better than he had expected. He half expected for her to strangle him with his own chains, but of course she didn’t. Unlike her husband, Felicity was smarter than that. 

Luckily, Felicity didn’t discover the note before she had left the room. Of course one of the guards had to make a point of telling him how close she had been and what he’d have had to do to her if she’d reacted to it while on camera. It took everything within Oliver not to react to the statements. The only thing which kept him from reacting was the threat of not being able to see Felicity the next week. Plus the threat of being “taught a lesson” for the payment being missed. 

The note. Oliver wondered how she reacted when she read the note. Hopefully Dig had been with her as she processed the information. He had no doubt as to the reaction she’d have shown. Another worry he was adding to the ones on Felicity’s plate already. 

Involved in his thoughts and secure in the knowledge that there was a guard outside the door, Oliver didn’t hear the steps of three men approaching until the weight bar was suddenly pressing into his windpipe and he was unable to lift it off him. Even by trying to get traction from pushing his body off the bench didn’t help. Sensing there were a man on either side of him, Oliver tried to catch a glimpse of them. However, a third man beside the foot of the bench claimed his attention. 

“Mr. Queen, what a supreme pleasure to talk to you like this. Imagine our delight when we found out you were going to live out your life in the same prison you condemned us to.” 

Oliver couldn’t stop having the slightest reaction to the voice and his body jerked in recognition. He shouldn’t have been shocked by seeing Danny ‘The Brick’ Brickwell standing in front of him, but he was. It was bad enough that Diaz’ gang was within the prison, but now The Brick was here as well? 

Brick nodded and the weight lifted off him. Oliver was grabbed by one of the men, who pulled him into a sitting position. As he was rubbing his sore throat, Oliver watched as Brick was joined by Stardust and Ben Turner, aka Bronze Tiger, in front of him. 

“Imagine our surprise to find out the Green Arrow was the Mayor of Star City.” Stardust took step toward Oliver, who forced himself not to pull back. “And that he was going to be spending his time right here with us.” 

Bending down, Turner said in Oliver’s face, “You put us here, you scum.”

“I didn’t sentence you; the courts did that.” 

Turner’s arm shot out and grabbed Oliver by the throat, raising him an inch off the bench. Brick shook his head. “Hey, Turner, let’s not be hasty. We have a few more things to talk to the man about.” 

Turner made a grand gesture of releasing Oliver’s throat, resulting in Oliver landing hard on the bench. Taking a step back, Turner wiped his palms off each other as he stared at Oliver, no expression on his face. Oliver waited for one of the men to say something. When they didn’t, Oliver said, “So what you want?”

“Our pound of flesh!” The Brick yelled.

As the three rushed him, Oliver quickly grabbed the can of chalk dust off the floor, opened it and shook it into the men’s eyes. He jumped over the bench and dealt several jabs into Brick’s face, then delivered a powerhouse kick from the side at Turner approaching him on his right, causing the man to fall backwards. 

Stardust charged at him from his left, head down, but Oliver was able to get out of his way. Helped by Stardust’s own momentum, Oliver kicked the villain into the wall hard enough to knock him out momentarily. Turner approached Oliver with two metal bars while Brick had a 200-pound weight. Luckily Oliver ducked in time to avoid Brick throwing the weight at Oliver’s head, then Oliver jumped to avoid Turner’s strikes with the bars at his lower legs. 

Oliver grabbed a medicine ball and threw it at Turner’s head, who ducked in time to avoid it hitting him on the head. However, it hit his shoulder, knocking him off-balance. He was pushed into the floor by Oliver’s foot as Oliver turned to give Brick some more punches to his abdomen and jaw. However, Oliver didn’t see Stardust approach him from the back with a kettlebell. 

Oliver heard a noise behind him just as Stardust hit him on the back of the head with the kettlebell. Oliver crumbled to the floor, fighting a losing battle to maintain consciousness. As the world faded away, he heard a voice tell him, “Say farewell, Mr. Queen.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what you think? Sure hope Oliver survives to go to the hospital. I’m glad you returned to read this newest chapter of this story, and hope you’ll leave a comment or review letting me know what you think of it. I’ll see you soon.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Oliver. I really hadn’t planned to deliver so much angst so soon in the story. But you know those evil villains out for revenge. They simply cannot wait. Thank you again for all the reviews, comments, favs, follows and kudos. They really do make a difference!!!
> 
> Here’s the next chapter. Enjoy!!

Disclaimer: CW/DC own these characters. I’m only borrowing them for a while. I own the original ideas found in this. 

Cross-posted to both FFN and AO3. 

 

Previously: 

Oliver grabbed a medicine ball and threw it at Turner, who ducked in time to avoid it hitting him on the head. However, it hit his shoulder, knocking him off-balance. He was pushed into the floor by Oliver’s foot as Oliver turned to give Brick some more punches to his abdomen and jaw. However, Oliver didn’t see Stardust approach him from the back with a kettlebell. 

Oliver heard a noise behind him just as Stardust hit him on the back of the head with the kettlebell. Oliver crumbled to the floor, fighting a losing battle to maintain consciousness. As the world faded away, he heard a voice tell him, “Say farewell, Mr. Queen.” 

 

~~OQ~~FS~~

 

Everything hurt. All over. And there were loud, annoying beeping sounds next to him. Oliver attempted to move but something prevented him from turning over onto his back. He wanted to react in alarm, because being restrained only meant something bad, but he was simply way too tired. If it meant being killed, he was just too tired to care. 

A voice broke through the fog. “Hey, Oliver, man, don’t do that. Your back is pretty banged up so you should stay lying on your side.” 

“Honey, honey, are you hearing us? We’ve been worrying so much about you. What happened? Oh, you can’t tell us yet. And here I’m babbling again, I’ll stop….”

“Dad, Dad, are you finally waking up? We were so worried about you.” 

The voices disappeared into a gray fog. Some time later, Oliver woke up enough to feel a warm, soft hand holding onto his. Something was gnawing at him, urging him to open his eyes, to do something, but he couldn’t figure out what. The idea did occur to him the beeping sounded like a heart monitor. But why would he be in the hospital? Before he could figure out an answer, the gray fog pulled him under once again. 

The third time the gray fog lifted enough so he heard several voices whispering in the room. Oliver couldn’t catch what they were saying, and something told him they were talking about him. He mustered enough energy to mumble, “Speak louder. I can’t hear you.” If his mouth hadn’t been so dry, he’d would’ve asked if they were friend or foe.

The voices stopped. A rush of air preceded his left hand being taken up roughly in a large grasp, while his right hand was grasped tightly by a much smaller grip. He was alert enough to sense more than one person standing around him. 

“Oliver, Oliver, can you wake up, sweetheart? Please open those beautiful blue eyes. I’ve missed seeing them so much!”

“Oliver, can you hear us now? It’s been three days. We’ve been worried about you, buddy.”

Oliver opened his eyes to see his best friend and his wife looking at him with concerned looks on their faces. “What happened?” He was too tired to try to figure out what could’ve happened. 

“You were beaten up pretty bad at the prison, Oliver. The doctors weren’t too sure if you were going to make it.” If he hadn’t known Dig as well as he did, Oliver would’ve missed the unshed tears in Dig’s reply.

“Oliver, I don’t understand. I thought the money was to protect you from this. We didn’t even get a chance to give you the money yet. What’s wrong with those people?”

Oliver weakly squeezed Felicity’s hand. “I love your babbles, honey, but please don’t do that now, okay?” He racked his brain trying to figure out what she was talking about, but nothing came to mind. 

Felicity laughed softly, which might’ve verged on the edge of hysteria. “Oh, Oliver! I’m so sorry. I’ve been so worried, and I just don’t understand.” 

Sensing more than the usual worry in her voice, he asked, “What’s wrong with me?”

Oliver heard a sharp intake of breath. He assumed it was Felicity. Dig answered him. “Nothing that wouldn’t heal, luckily. They broke one of your legs, stabbed you several times in the abdomen, barely missed your liver and spleen, and punched you black and blue. You looked like a human punching bag. Luckily no internal bleeding, even though enough ribs were broken, and no punctured lungs. Surprisingly. I think the guards interrupted them before any of that could occur.”

“How could this happen? I mean, you aren’t supposed to ever see another prisoner, right? Much less get beaten up.” Felicity asked. 

“Felicity, try not to ask him any questions, okay? The police will be asking them in a few more days, when Oliver’s better.”

Oliver wanted to be able to discuss the entire situation with them, but he was simply too tired. He attempted to tell them but Felicity stopped him. He felt a feather-light kiss on his forehead. “I love you so very, very much, Oliver. I’m so sorry I haven’t been able to get you out of there before this happened. Go to sleep now. We’ll talk later when you’re feeling better.” 

Oliver wanted to stay awake and find out more information. To talk to his beautiful wife and best friend. However, he was so, so very tired. Still, so very tired. “Honey, I love you too, but I think I’m going to take a nap.”

He fell asleep as another feather-light kiss was placed on his forehead. Felicity’s voice faded away but he heard, “Sleep, my darling. Heal and we’ll figure this all out.”

 

~~OQ~~FS~~OQ~~

 

The next three days blurred into each other. On the fourth day, Oliver woke up before dawn to find Felicity’s head lying on his bed. He knew her back was going to be killing her once she woke up. It was a small thing, but it was what he concentrated on being concerned about. For the moment.

No one else was in the room with them. No other coats or bedding either. Oliver was glad Dig had gone home to be with his family and get a good night’s sleep. Knowing his wife, Oliver was certain no force on Heaven or Earth would move her from his side until he was practically back to normal. 

“Felicity,” Oliver attempted to say her name in something other than a whisper, but with his dry throat he managed only a grunt of her name. It was loud enough to wake her up though. 

“Oliver!” she jumped up. “Oh, did I jar you, honey? I didn’t mean to. Did I wake you with my snoring?” She wiped her mouth. “Good, I wasn’t drooling on you, but then you’re used to that, aren’t you? Why am I babbling about drool when you haven’t been awake again for three days?”

“Water?” Oliver asked. 

“Oh, yes, Oliver, the doctor said I could give you a sip if you woke up during the night,” she said as she leaned back to grab a covered mug with a straw in it. She held it up to him, but only allowed him to take a few sips. “Careful, honey, you should take it easy.” 

The water was room temperature but to him it tasted like nirvana. Felicity put the mug back on the side table. “What time is it?” Oliver asked.

“Oh, about 5am. The day shift of nurses should be coming in soon, I guess.” Oliver felt the blankets being shifted over him. “How are you, honey? Anything hurt real bad? I can get the nurse –”

“Not yet. Let me look at you for a moment. Sorry to worry you so.”

His wife made one of her famous faces. “Only you’d apologize for being beaten nearly to death and worrying about us. Why do I continue to be surprised by that?”

Oliver shrugged but then groaned in discomfort. “Oliver, try not to shrug, laugh, or get out of bed yet. Your bones are still healing.”

“I suppose I’ll be moved to the prison hospital soon.”

“Well, we’ve had to argue with them already about that. They wanted to move you before you even woke up, but luckily they listened to Lyla.”

“Have I had any…interesting visitors lately?”

“No, neither Watson nor Diaz has appeared. Good thing. I might have taken them on myself. How dare you be hurt like this? I didn’t think such things happened in the United States!”

“Corruption exists everywhere, honey.” Oliver cleared his throat and Felicity grabbed the mug again to offer him a drink. After he swallowed two small sips, he asked, “Have you found out anything useful these days?”

“Like I wrote you, Jean talked to us the day after you were taken away. Nothing has turned up yet, but we’re all working on it.” Looking down at the floor, Felicity said, “I should’ve tried harder.”

He gave her hand a small squeeze. “Now who’s blaming herself unnecessarily?”

“This should motivate you to get better, Mister. So I can spend the day hac –” she coughed and said, “researching, I meant researching. I haven’t been able to….” She leaned over and whispered in his ear, “I haven’t been able to hack into the right places to find out why Watson has such a personal vendetta against you.” 

“What makes you think it’s personal to her?”

“Oliver, haven’t you found it odd she made it her mission to come to Star City, when her normal area of investigations is the East Coast? I mean, why didn’t anyone else investigate reports of the Green Arrow before? No, not until that fake picture was leaked did she come here. And that picture? We never did figure out where it came from.”

“Diaz was behind it to get Cayden James angry enough at me to begin his assault against me.” 

“But how did it get leaked? I don’t think James had meant it to be leaked as soon as it did.”

Oliver attempted to shift his body to relieve the constant aching he was feeling which made it difficult to fully listen to what Felicity was telling him. Felicity made soothing noises as she attempted to fix the sheet and blankets around him again. “It’s probably time for some more pain medicine.” Hearing Oliver take a breath, she said quickly, “No go, Mister. You need to rest and heal, and there isn’t any need for you to be vigilant. That’s what you got me for. And Dig, and the rest of your family and friends.”

Oliver attempted to speak again, but Felicity said, “No, Oliver, the correct answer is ‘Yes, dear’.”

Oliver wrinkled his nose at her, which was probably the only part of his body which wasn’t hurting. “Yes, dear.”

Felicity smiled and gave him a quick kiss on the forehead. “I’ll go get the nurse.”

“Why don’t we press the call button? I’m not in a hurry, I’m not going anywhere, and I don’t want to lose one moment with you.”

Felicity leaned over and gave him a quick peck on the lips. “Has anyone ever told you, you’re the most romantic man, ever?” She pushed the call button.

“Only you, babe, and only for you.”

When the nurse arrived, Felicity moved to the small sofa in the room to make room at the bedside for her. The brunette-haired young woman introduced herself as Ann while she bustled around, checking Oliver’s I.V. and his abdominal dressing. Felicity stood up to peer over the railing and saw the dressing, before Ann changed it. Felicity said out loud she was relieved it didn’t show any drainage soaking through it. 

“The surgical wound is healing nicely,” Ann agreed. Moving to the other side of the bed, she took out the blood pressure cuff out of the basket on the wheeled monitor. Oliver raised his arm so she could wrap it around. “It’s a lot easier when the patient is awake,” she said to Oliver with a smile. “We’re happy to see you awake.”

“I’m happy to be awake,” Oliver said. 

“Hon, I think I’ll grab a cup of coffee and be right back,” Felicity told him. 

She smiled as Oliver told her to hurry back. When the door closed behind her, she breathed out a loud sigh. Felicity then walked down past the nurses’ station and made her way to the visitors’ lounge. She sat down and put her head in her hands. 

“Felicity, is something wrong? Something happen with Oliver?” Dig was suddenly there, putting an arm around her shoulders and pulling her close. 

“No Dig, but he’s awake.” Felicity waited then spoke again. “I told him what I suspected about Watson having a personal vendetta against him.”

“Yeah? What was his reaction?”

“I probably shouldn’t have told him so soon. I mean, he’s just waking up. He’s finally able to speak more than two sentences at a time and I go and tell him something like that.”

“At least you didn’t tell him anything about the new gang of criminals creating havoc around the city, did you?”

Felicity slugged Dig on his upper arm. “No! I do have more sense than that!” Mumbling into her cup of coffee she added, “Usually.”

“I’m only teasing, Felicity.”

She nodded. “What are we going to do about them, Dig? We can’t go out in the field, ARGUS wouldn’t allow you to go out there, Curtis is out of town, Dinah is with the police force, and Rene….”

“Yeah, do we know where Rene is?”

“He’s supposedly here in Star City, but no one has heard from him. William has been asking about Zoe. I didn’t want him to worry, but I can’t lie to him. So now he’s worried about Zoe.”

Dig patted her hand in her lap. “You’re doing great with him, you know.”

“It’s so difficult to know, Dig.”

“Yeah, tell me something I don’t know. In a way you have it easier. At least yours can tell you what’s wrong.”

“No, you have it easier. Getting to start from the beginning.” 

“You and Oliver will get a chance to do so, too.”

Felicity closed her eyes quickly and lowered her head. She quickly pushed all thoughts out of her head. 

“I’m sorry, Felicity. But you gotta believe that’s true, you know.”

“We don’t know that, Dig,” Felicity said so softly Dig almost didn’t hear her. 

“Where’s that infamous Smoak optimism, huh?” Dig said. “You want to rest here for a moment and I’ll go see him?”

Felicity nodded and watched their good friend go down the hall. Before she returned to her husband, she needed to get some of that hope and optimism back again. They all needed it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All sorts of things are happening around Star City. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Whew, Oliver survived that beating. I wonder what’s next? Please return when I post the next chapter. In a little over two weeks and the premiere will be here. Yay!!!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With this chapter, this story goes off the rails of being in any shape or form close to canon. Or to my original ideas. A new and different plot twist became quite persistent, so I decided I’ll end up doing my own idea of the crossover. I threw out my plans to map out the entire season with all the hints I knew. Maybe I’ll go back and write up my original ideas for the Longbow Hunters some other time. We shall see. 
> 
> I’ll quit rambling so you can find out what has happened now to Oliver.

Disclaimer: CW/DC own these characters. I’m only borrowing them for a while. I own the original ideas found in this. 

Cross-posted to both FFN and AO3. 

 

Recuperation was slow and tedious for Oliver, as anyone who really knew Oliver would’ve predicted. Felicity had to fight Watson every day to prevent her transferring Oliver back to the prison. Watson claimed Oliver could “recuperate” at the prison as well as in the hospital. Lyla acted as Felicity’s backup, citing both Oliver’s physicians’ recommendations as well as issuing veiled threats. Felicity couldn’t understand why Watson was so determined to get Oliver back in prison, but it strengthened her resolve to find something in Watson’s background ensuring Oliver’s freedom. Even the doctors questioned why Watson was so insistent, for it was standard procedure for prisoners’ hospital stays to be just as long as regular citizens’ stays were. With Oliver’s injuries, considering his leg required surgery to realign the bones before casting as well as the severity of his internal injuries, he required at least three weeks, if not longer, for proper healing. 

Felicity also asked right away about Oliver’s long-term physical and occupational therapy. Even though Oliver still had his leg in a cast, he had started short-term physical and occupational therapies to regain strength in his arm muscles as well as the muscles of his non-injured leg. Unfortunately, therapy on the healing leg once the cast had been removed, would require Oliver be transferred to a prison hospital. Felicity wasn’t happy, but at least Oliver would be in less danger from other prisoners. At least she hoped so. 

When it was three weeks to the day when Oliver had been admitted, Felicity arrived to find Oliver’s bed empty. She didn’t think anything about it at first, assuming he was already in therapy, even though it would be earlier than usual. However, as she entered the room and noticed its immaculate order, his closet empty, and the bed made, she went to the nurses’ station for some answers. 

Instead, she got more questions. The nurse informed her Oliver had been transferred to a prison hospital and had already left. “It’s barely eight o’clock in the morning. Couldn’t they wait for me to arrive? I’m his wife, after all. I would’ve liked to have rode along with him.”

This wasn’t possible, she was told. Felicity then asked why she hadn’t been asked for her permission to transfer Oliver to Arkham. 

The nurse, her name Betty per her name tag, looked at a chart and said, “The psychiatrist with the ambulance, a Dr. John Deegan, had a permission slip signed by you.” The nurse showed her the form. 

Felicity sighed in exasperation. She pulled out her driver’s license for the nurse to compare signatures. “That’s not my signature. Didn’t anyone think about checking out this story, with so many strange details to it?”

Betty apologized. “Unfortunately, it was at shift change. I don’t know if you’ve ever worked in a hospital, but there is a lot of chaos happening at that time. People rushing here and there.” Betty grimaced. “I again totally apologize for all of this. It shouldn’t have happened.” 

Felicity bit back the retort of “you think?” and asked if Lyla had been made aware of this change as she was dialing the woman on her phone. When she identified herself, Felicity was immediately connected with Lyla. Once Felicity had told her, Lyla hurriedly assured Felicity she had in no way been either informed or consulted about this. 

The biggest shocker of all was Oliver had been transferred to the prison hospital in Gotham City. Arkham Hospital had initially been only a psychiatric prison hospital, but Felicity was told one-third of it was being switched over for rehabilitation therapy for prisoners because of the increasing need for this. 

“I haven’t heard of Arkham expanding their practice to include physical therapies, Felicity. Let me do some checking and I’ll get back to you.”

Nodding her thanks to Betty and walking away from the nurses’ station Felicity lowered her voice to ask Lyla if she’d found out anything on Watson yet. “No, Felicity, I haven’t. I got my best people on it, of course, and have sworn them to secrecy, but no luck.” 

“Lyla, why aren’t we finding anything? There must be something, don’t you think?”

“Yes, Felicity, as I’ve told you several other times, I agree there’s something fishy about all of this to begin with. I also am sorry we don’t have more resources to assign to it.” 

Felicity acknowledged her friend’s apology and told her they’d talk again soon. She hung up, checked over the room once more to make sure all of Oliver’s belongings were taken, and left. When she reached her car, Felicity GPS’d the location of Arkham Asylum and discovered it being a four-hour car ride to get there from her present location. She rubbed her forehead as she debated her options. 

If only she’d found something on Watson. Felicity had thought with Oliver awake she could research into Watson’s affairs while she kept him company. She managed to get a lot of dead ends eliminated but no real leads. Instead, she’d spent most of the time relishing in the company of her husband. It benefitted Oliver as well, aiding in his healing and in his spirits. At least that was her way of rationalizing her lack of progress. But now she wished she’d gotten further along. Then her husband could be home recuperating with her instead of hundreds of miles away. 

~~OQ~~FS~~OQ~~FS~~OQ~~

There was a terrible taste in his mouth. The bedsheets felt different from the ones in the prison. The sounds and smells were different as well. Like a hospital, but not quite the same. As consciousness returned, Oliver was able to sense there was no immediate danger so he opened his eyes. To a totally different room. His memory returned and he remembered he’d been recuperating at the hospital near Slabside. For injuries given courtesy of Sampson, Brick, and Turner. However, this was neither the hospital nor Slabside. 

And not only were both his wrists attached to the bedrails with handcuffs, some kind of mesh was wrapped around his waist tying him to the bed. Like a restraint nursing homes used to keep residents from falling out of bed. Or like half a straitjacket. What the hell was going on now? How’d he even get here, and where was ‘here’? Before he had time to stew further in the questions, a man in his late forties knocked on his door and entered the room.

“Hello, Mr. Queen. I’m happy to see you awake. I hope you’re settled comfortably in bed.” The man was smiling while standing inside the door of his room. Oliver didn’t know why, but the man made him feel instantly uncomfortable. 

Oliver reminded himself to be polite until he learned more about where he was, but it was difficult. The man seemed polite enough and looked professional enough in a suit with a moustache and beard neatly trimmed. However his brunette hair was standing up on top, reminding Oliver of Dr. Wells the first year he had known him. 

Oliver bit back the snippy comments and instead asked, “Where am I? And who are you?”

“I’m Doctor John Deegan, administrator here at Arkham Asylum.” 

Oliver tried to hide the alarm and confusion from his face, but he didn’t prevent all of it. “Arkham? Why am I at Arkham? You mean, the one in Gotham City?” 

“Yes, the same. You’ve been transferred here to complete your rehabilitation from your injuries.” 

“Why is that? My injuries are physical, not mental.” All the movies Oliver had ever seen with people trapped in mental institutions came to his mind. 

“Oh, you haven’t heard the news? Since the President is very focused on prison reform, she’s determined the need to increase prison resources. Thus, here at Arkham, because we had empty beds, we chose to volunteer to add physical therapies to the services our facility provides.” 

Oliver indeed hadn’t heard such a thing. Usually, he would have, one way or another. Especially in his role as mayor of a city as large as Star City. His bullshit meter was firing off the charts, but he also knew it was best to not make hasty judgements without knowing all the facts. That was one of the lessons he’d learned the hard way during his time away. 

“Why was I transferred here unconscious?”

“Our policy while transporting dangerous criminals. For the safety of both the prisoners and the staff. Prisoners might injure themselves by trying to escape. We don’t want this.”

Oliver again reminded himself he still didn’t enough information to be belligerent. Another suspicious fact was his wife’s absence. “Where’s my wife?”

A look of confusion crossed Dr. Deegan’s face. “Wherever she’s supposed to be, I suppose. Why would I know this?”

“No, she was with me at the hospital. She’s been staying at a nearby hotel. Didn’t she ride along with us? Does she know I’ve been transferred? Why was it done so quickly, as if you had something to hide?”

Oliver realized the last question was probably too threatening, but he didn’t care. As the questions piled up, he realized not only his bullshit meter was measuring off the charts, warning bells were also ringing loudly. This was all beginning to stink like sushi left out in the Bunker too long.

“No, it’s against prison policy for family members to ride along with a transfer. I haven’t seen her here.” He continued, but Oliver could tell he was lying by a small tic in his cheek. “Your wife gave us verbal consent by phone this morning. We were in the area dropping off a former patient, so it was very handy for us to pick you up since we were in the area.” Looking at the chart in his hand, Dr. Deegan continued. “Given your…unusual past activities, I understand why you’re feeling paranoid, but let me reassure you there is nothing sinister going on.” 

This only increased the volume of those warning bells. Something wasn’t right. The man simply stared at Oliver like nothing would faze him. Oliver wondered if he would remain as cool if he was standing at the other end of his nocked bow. Oliver decided it would be best to pretend he accepted this man’s lies for now. “Now that I’m awake, I suppose I’ll get these handcuffs off?”

“We’ll do that, but for now you’re confined to your room for twenty-four hours. Standard procedure to ensure you understand the rules.”

“It seems to me you’re treating me like a psych patient. Certainly you have different guidelines for those here for therapy versus psychiatric problems?”

“You would think so. However we were rushed to provide such services to help with the overload of therapy patients in the prison system. The procedures are being reviewed as we speak. But for now they must be followed. No exceptions.”

Oliver could only think, “What the hell?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what you’d think? What’s going to happen with Oliver now, or is there nothing mysterious going on at all? Or has Oliver finally lost his sanity and ended up in a psych hospital? Hopefully I’ll get the next chapter up soon. Unfortunately I wanted to be further with this story than I am before the new season premieres. Oh well. It’s been a weird summer. 
> 
> Anyone else excited about the new season? I sure am. Maybe since I was so wrong other years with my speculation stories, maybe I’ll be more correct this season. (Nah, not a chance!)
> 
> Sure hope you’ll cheer me up for not having this done by leaving me a review or comment. Thanks for all the comments and kudos already left. They are helpful and encouraging. Take care, enjoy the premiere, and next time we meet, we’ll know what ‘it’ is Stephen had hinted at which we’ll be shocked at. Sigh.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for returning, and for the comments and kudos!!! Let’s see what we find out about how and why Oliver is at Arkham.

Disclaimer: CW/DC own these characters. I’m only borrowing them for a while. I own the original ideas found in this. 

Cross-posted to both FFN and AO3. 

 

Previously:

Felicity acknowledged her friend’s apology and told her they’d talk again soon. She hung up, checked over the room once more to make sure all of Oliver’s belongings were taken, and left. When she reached her car, Felicity GPS’d the location of Arkham Asylum and discovered it being a four-hour car ride to get there from her present location. She rubbed her forehead as she debated her options. 

~~OQ~~FS~~

As she headed towards Arkham, Felicity’s brain was rapidly trying to think of how and why such a thing as her husband’s transfer to Arkham Hospital, of all places, had happened. The entire situation stank like the time she’d left her lunch in the Foundry and not in the refrigerator. And that stank very, very bad indeed. She swore she could smell it a mile away outside in her car the next day as she arrived for a night of Arrow work. 

She supposed someone would call her paranoid for immediately thinking something was wrong, but she’d offer as evidence all the things which had happened to her and Oliver over the past six years. Anything was possible. Except they didn’t know anyone from Arkham Hospital who would do something like this. And who, if any, of their enemies had the power and/or resources to be able to make something like this happen? And why would they want Oliver there in the first place? 

Suddenly her phone rang. She activated her Bluetooth as she kept her eyes on the road.

“Hey, Felicity! What are you doing, girl?” Dig’s familiar voice rang out over the telephone. Good-natured teasing was mixed with worry in his tone.

“Dig, what else would you have me do? Wait until you made the three-hour drive to Mercy Hospital to then drive to Gotham together? Besides, don’t you think all of this is too suspicious to leave Oliver by himself any longer than we can help it?”

“You’re lucky my wife sent a plane for me. I’ll be there before you. I’ll have things checked out before you get there.”

“Oh, Dig,” Felicity rolled her eyes. Despite his protective attitude, Felicity was still glad he was going to be there with her. She was feeling uneasy about not having backup with her on this trip. God knows what they’ll find there. Or what Oliver thought about having no one there with him. 

“Don’t you try telling me you’re not happy to have the assist, Felicity. I’m also bringing some info ARGUS found on Watson.”

“You found something? Tell me, Dig!” In her excitement, the car temporarily headed for the shoulder of the road. She quickly brought the car back to center and hoped Dig didn’t hear the telltale signs over the phone of her almost losing control of the car. He’d either tease her mercilessly or never stop worrying about it. Luckily, probably because it was a Tuesday, there was less traffic on the road than Felicity had expected. 

“No, Felicity, I know you. Not while you’re driving. It’s probably nothing. And I’m reviewing the rest of it for any possible leads as well.”

“Thanks Dig. I’ll talk to you when I get there.”

She disconnected the call and resumed her review of what Oliver’s connection to Arkham could be. Nothing much came to mind. Oliver hadn’t had much interaction with any business in Gotham when he was co-CEO of Queen Consolidated. None of Oliver’s vigilante identities had any interaction with Batman or his enemies. Well, except Ra’s, but he was dead, as well as his daughter Talia. Nyssa was both their friend and travelling the world clearing up Malcolm’s last mess. She couldn’t think of anyone else.

Gotham did boast a multi-millionaire of their own who was equal to Oliver, or at least when Oliver had money. Bruce Wayne was about five years older than Oliver. In the years since she’s known him, Oliver had only mentioned Wayne a few times, and nothing about knowing him personally. For whatever reason Wayne Enterprises and Queen Consolidated had had no business dealings together. No possible connection was apparent, as far as Felicity could remember.

Grabbing her voice recorder, she made a note to contact Bruce Wayne while in Gotham to see if he had any ideas about possible enemies of Oliver connected to Arkham, or if he knew of any connections to any of the criminals currently residing at Arkham. She doubted much luck with the last item. What would Wayne know about the criminal element? But perhaps he’d have a possible source for her to contact. Of course, unless her suspicions were correct, and Bruce Wayne was Batman. She’d never shared her suspicions with anyone, for fear they’d laugh her out of town. However, she was eighty-five percent sure she was correct with her suspicions. But all of that was neither here nor there, Felicity chided herself. 

With all the tension and stress of considering possible answers, she was developing a headache. Felicity decided to give her brain a rest and crank up the tunes. Look at the passing scenery instead. To relax. She turned on the radio and sat up straighter in the car seat. Stretching out her neck muscles, Felicity decided to have faith it’ll all work out. Somehow. Like it always did. 

 

~~OQ~~FS~~OQ~~FS~~OQ~~

Previously: 

“We’ll do that, but for now you’re confined to your room for twenty-four hours. Standard procedure to ensure you understand the rules.”

“It seems to me you’re treating me like a psych patient. Certainly you have different guidelines for those here for therapy versus psychiatric problems?”

“You would think so. However we were rushed to provide such services to help with the overload of therapy patients in the prison system. The procedures are being reviewed as we speak. But for now they must be followed. No exceptions.”

Oliver could only think, “What the hell?”

~~OQ~~FS~~

 

Oliver decided to be a little petulant. “What am I to do while I’m confined to my room?”

Oliver could see the doctor biting back a petty reply. Taking a booklet out of his folder, he handed it to Oliver. “Here’s a handbook for new patients. You should use the time of your confinement to become familiar with the contents and thus this hospital. Please don’t be afraid to ask any questions you might have. But everything should be explained in there for you.” 

The man left without further comment. Oliver’s lips twisted as he watched the doctor leave. He picked up the booklet and decided he might as well begin to read the contents. For now. Then he’ll figure out what all of this means. 

After an hour, Oliver was too bored to stay still. He put on his call light for assistance to get up to go to the bathroom. With his leg in a cast he was still requiring at the least stand-by assistance. A younger man appearing to be in his early twenties, his nametag saying ‘Dean’, arrived to help him to the bathroom. Even though the nursing assistant offered to use the wheelchair, Oliver wanted to use his crutches and get some exercise. Dean looked skeptical but handed him the crutches. Oliver walked slower than he wanted to, but he knew he needed to be careful. 

Once he was done, Oliver decided he wanted to sit up for a while in the only chair in the room. Dean parked the wheelchair next to the chair, put both brakes on, and assessed Oliver’s knowledge of safely getting in and out of the chair. Dean strongly suggested Oliver continue to call for assistance before he changed locations but hinted patients like Oliver hardly called for assistance. Oliver gave a little smirk, knowing that if the man’s caseload of patients were all stubborn like him, Dean had his hands full. 

After Dean left after handing him the remote, Oliver decided to turn on the TV and perhaps get a sense of the local news. Not much was on so he left the TV on a sitcom and allowed his mind to wander. With the shock of everything which had already happened this morning, his mind needed the time to process everything. Oliver tried to settle comfortably in the chair to watch the fictional lovelorn couple try to avoid each other in an impossibly unrealistic situation. If only real life was that simple.

~~OQ~~FS~~OQ~~FS~~OQ~~

 

Felicity arrived at the Arkham Hospital by 9am. The building was one of the most imposing structures she’d ever seen. It looked like one of those asylums from centuries past where people claimed they were locked up unfairly. A shiver went down her spine as she entered the building. 

A desk was 24 feet in front of her with a harmless looking blonde woman about 30 years old sitting behind it. When she asked for the director’s office, Felicity was given directions to go down the hallway to the right, go past seven doors and turn right at the eighth. His office would be down the hallway. 

The hallways weren’t deserted but there weren’t a lot of people walking around. However, they were brightly lit, which gave Felicity a sense of comfort. She reached where Dr. Deegan’s office was to be, and there it was. She went in, and the woman at the desk asked what she could help Felicity with. When she asked to speak to Dr. Deegan, Felicity was asked to take a seat after she had told the receptionist the reason for the visit. 

After ten minutes of waiting, Felicity was getting impatient when a tall, thin man with brunette hair standing up on top and a neatly trimmed beard and moustache approached her and held out his hand. Felicity shook it as he introduced himself.

“Mrs. Queen? My name is Dr. John Deegan. I am the administrator of Arkham Hospital. I understand your husband was recently admitted to our facility?”

“Yes, this morning. Without my knowledge or consent. I demand I see him immediately.” 

“Why don’t we discuss this in my office? It is right over here to your left.” 

Felicity looked over to where Dr. Deegan pointed. She gathered her purse and walked purposefully over to the office, entering it without checking to see if the man was following her. She stood waiting until he closed the door, went behind the desk, and gestured to the chair in front of the desk. 

“Please sit down, Mrs. Queen, and I’ll answer your questions.” 

Felicity breathed a small sigh and walked over to the chair. She sat down and straightened out her skirt as Dr. Deegan took his seat. 

“Mrs. Queen, I’m sorry you weren’t informed about this, but there aren’t any visitors allowed for the first twenty-four hours following admission.”

Felicity thought to herself, ‘You gotta be kidding. I haven’t seen him in over twelve hours. And now I have to wait until tomorrow?’ 

She cleared her throat. “Dr. Deegan, it may be the rule for psychiatric patients, but my husband is here for rehabilitation. It’s not meant for him.”

“I beg to differ, Mrs. Queen. You see, we hadn’t had time to revise the rules before admitting rehab patients. We must follow them, though, otherwise we’ll be in violation of our federal charter.” 

Felicity reminded herself she needed to be diplomatic to get anywhere with this idiot. “I’ve never heard of such nonsense!” Despite her efforts, her voice rose with the statement. She shook her head and continued in a normal, if not tightly controlled, tone of voice. “First my husband is transferred without my knowledge or permission. We didn’t agree to any of this. Then he leaves before I even get to the hospital. Now you tell me I can’t see with my own eyes that he’s okay?”

Dr. Deegan shrugged apologetically. “Again, I apologize, Mrs. Queen. Those are our rules.”

Felicity reminded herself Dig will be available to help her, so she must not goof up anything with an angry outburst. “All I can say is he better be all right, or otherwise you will wish you never began working here.” 

‘To hell with being diplomatic.’ Felicity stormed out of the office and out of the hospital, with barreling into only a few people along the way. She slammed her car door shut so hard the car shook and sat there willing the angry tears to stay away. She didn’t have time for them. However, she was quickly losing that battle as well. 

She jumped when someone banged on her driver’s window. Looking out she breathed easier when she saw it was Dig. Walking around to the passenger side, Dig got in. “Why didn’t you wait for me, Felicity? I told you to text me when you got to Gotham.”

Felicity turned a little red. “I needed to get over here as soon as possible. I wanted, no I needed, to see Oliver. But they didn’t let me, Dig!”

“Something’s not adding up here either, just as with Watson.” Dig fixed Felicity with a half-serious glare as he asked, “Will you follow me to my hotel or do we need to ride together so you follow my directions this time?”

“Don’t be stupid, Dig. You can trust me to follow you,” Felicity said softly, allowing a smidge of rebellion to enter her words.

“Okay then. Let’s go.” 

Felicity watched as Dig walked in front of her car and over one. He had been parked diagonally to her when she had returned to her car and she hadn’t noticed. Her lips curled in self-disgust, but she shook her head to clear it. Her preoccupation was excusable, the rules of the hospital were totally unreasonable. Like Dig said, something was not right. She took in a large, cleansing breath and slowly let it out as she watched Dig back out and slowly head to the exit. She pulled out to follow right behind him and told herself she was going to empty her mind on the ride over to the hotel in order to destress. Otherwise she felt she was going to burst into a million little pieces like a popped balloon. 

They arrived at the Gotham Hilton and parked in the parking garage connected to the hotel. Dig came to help her with her luggage then helped her register into her room. He told her he had made reservations for them while on the plane to Gotham. 

Felicity collapsed as soon as she entered her room. With her shoulders slumped, she dropped her luggage right inside the door on the side and slowly walked to the light blue sofa. She sank into the comfortable cushions and breathed a large sigh. Looking up at Dig, tears in her eyes, she said in a small voice, “They didn’t let me see him, Dig.”

Sitting next to her, taking her hand in his, Dig said, “What was their reason?”

“Some bullshit excuse about no visitors for the first twenty-four hours. I had peeked at the information on-line about Arkham, and I read that. But it was for the psychiatric patients. It even said that, right there on the webpage. But the administrator said they hadn’t had time to change it for the rehab patients and it would violate their charter if they allowed it to happen without it being changed.” 

“I agree, that’s total bullshit,” said a familiar voice. 

Felicity looked up and smiled when she saw Lyla standing in the doorway. She rushed over to Lyla, who welcomed her into her arms for a comforting hug. Felicity burst into tears then, and Lyla gently rubbed her back until the sobs slowed. 

“We’ll get this straightened out, Felicity. Don’t you worry. Dig and I reviewed the information you had found while flying here.” 

“I’m so glad you’re here. Dig didn’t say you were coming with.”

Lyla pulled out of Felicity’s arms to glare at her husband. “Why didn’t you tell her, Johnny?”

A small giggle escaped out of Felicity as a look passed over Dig’s face which was a mixture of fear, confusion and indignation. “I did tell you, Felicity! What are you talking about?”

“You only told me Lyla had arranged a plane for you. Nothing about her accompanying.”

Dig shrugged his large shoulders. “My bad.” Looking at his wife, he added, “I really didn’t try to keep it a secret, honey.”

The women exchanged a look which men the world over knows as the “these men!” expression. Dig didn’t say anything while he waited for either woman to say the inevitable. 

Luckily, they decided they had more important matters to discuss. “We should get going, guys.” Felicity looked at her two friends. “I don’t want to leave Oliver in that place a moment longer than we have to.” 

“Speaking of which, I know the exact right person to help us get Oliver out of Arkham,” Diggle said with a smile on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a great place to end with a cliffhanger up ahead, but I had to add a lot more since Felicity was refused to see Oliver. Oh well. Not bad a cliffie here. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too much of a wait for the next one. 
> 
> I have to laugh. Here I thought my story was going radically off the tracks and far from canon. Then Level Two happened. Hmm. What a wild ride this season is. 
> 
> Hope you let me know what you think of this chapter and the story in general. And return to read the next chapter as well. Always appreciated!!


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, welcome back. Another chapter in this continuing saga of Oliver’s journey while in prison, now radically different from the series. Thank you for taking the time to leave kudos, comments, favorites and follows. Hope you enjoy this new chapter.

Disclaimer: CW/DC own these characters. I’m only borrowing them for a while. I own the original ideas found in this. 

Cross-posted to both FFN and AO3. 

 

Previously:

Luckily, they decided they had more important matters to discuss. “We should get going, guys.” Felicity looked at her two friends. “I don’t want to leave Oliver in that place a moment longer than we have to.” 

“Speaking of which, I know the exact right person to help us get Oliver out of Arkham,” Diggle said with a smile on his face.

 

~~FS~~OQ~~

 

Katherine “Kate” Kane was relaxing in her living room Tuesday evening watching the news when her telephone rang. She was a twenty-seven-year-old woman with short black hair stylishly cut in a devil-may-care style. Anyone looking at her wouldn’t mistake her for a demure young woman. There was a layer of steel under her five-foot nine athletic frame which gave her an advantage for going against military officers or criminals, depending upon her location. The multiple tattoos covering her arms added to the image of a rebel, however. By day she was as much of a socialite as Gotham City’s own Bruce Wayne. By night, she was something else. 

“Hey, Dig! How they hangin’?” She smiled. “No, I haven’t changed one bit, can’t you tell? What are you…oh, the Queen boy needs help again?”

Kate nodded. “You’re in town? Oh, Queen is too?” After a pause, she answered, “Oh, that’s not so good.” She listened and mumbled understanding sounds. “All right. I’ll be right over. I’ll bring my change of clothes with me, don’t you worry. You and the wife wouldn’t mind working on this throughout the night, right?” She smiled again as she disconnected the call. 

Looking around her apartment, Kate quickly turned off her TV as she checked the apartment as secured. She checked her pocket for her keys, grabbed a simple black duffle bag sitting by the door and left. 

Meanwhile, in their hotel room, Felicity looked at her friend as he disconnected the call. “Who did you call?” 

“Someone who understands what we’re facing and is from here.” 

His wife smiled at Dig and nodded. “So Kate’s on her way over then?”

Dig nodded. “And she’s bringing her night outfit.” 

“That’s good. Because I have the feeling we’ll need to extract your boy Oliver out of there by force,” Lyla said with a smirk. 

Felicity stamped her foot. “If someone doesn’t explain what’s going on soon, I’ll either explode or heads will roll. Either one. Or perhaps both. I’m not sure. I may not have either of your fighting skills, but I’ll….” 

Dig held out a hand, palm down. “Don’t worry, Felicity. You’ll understand it all once Kate gets here. In the meantime, why don’t we show you what we found out.”

 

~~OQ~~FS~~OQ~~FS~~OQ~~

 

After spending the rest of Tuesday without incident in his room watching TV and reading, Oliver decided to turn in earlier than usual. He thought he’d probably lie awake like he usually did, but he fell asleep quickly. However, in the middle of the night, Oliver woke up without knowing why. He kept his eyes closed and remained perfectly still, listening for anything which would identify what or who was in his room. 

The next thing he knew, the lights came on and his eyes opened instinctively. A face completely covered in white paint, below a black-and-red jester hat, was suddenly in his face. “Why, hello there, Mr. Green Arrow. Did we wake you up?” asked an annoyingly high-pitched voice.

Blinking several times as the figure stepped out of his immediate line of vision, Oliver was surprised as his eyes focused to see a petite woman dressed as a Harlequin, wearing the traditional red and black one-piece outfit. She was lightly hopping from one foot to another as if she could barely hold her excitement. 

“Pumpkin, I don’t think he was expecting us,” her bright red lips turned down in a pout.

A man about six-foot-tall, also with a pasty-white face but shockingly bright green hair and unusually red lips, answered her. “I know, Harley. Why would he, though?” The man returned her pout, his own red lips turning down in a hideously looking expression. “He’s new to town, much less to Arkham. He’s lucky we’re here to welcome him.” 

With only hearing about them, Oliver knew these must be the supervillain The Joker and his on-again, off-again, girlfriend Harley Quinn. Struggling to keep his tone nonchalant, Oliver asked, “May I ask why you’re in my room? And how you got in here?”

Joker gave out a loud cackle and slapped Harley on her back. She flew towards Oliver, who was able to catch her around her shoulders moments before she would’ve ended up head-first in bed with him. “Harley, dear, he’s surprised we got in to see him. Oh, the things he has yet to learn.”

“Mr. J., like you said, he’s new here. He only arrived today, you know.” Harley raised a small hand and patted Oliver on his cheek. “You poor boy, are you confused? You look confused. Why are you confused?” She cocked her head, making her look like an inquisitive puppy. 

Oliver was disconcerted with the young woman remaining in his face asking him questions. “Why are you here, again?” he repeated.

Harley straightened and returned to Joker’s side. She looked up at him while batting her eyes, her hands clasped under her chin, waiting for him to answer Oliver’s question. Joker patted her on the head and looked at Oliver. 

“Why, to warn you, old boy.” Joker said. “We who are stuck here have to stick together. You’re not safe here.”

Oliver wanted to roll his eyes at the ridiculous understatement, but he wasn’t sure how the action would be received by the dangerous and unpredictable criminal. Instead, he asked, “Why in particular do you say that?”

Without warning, Joker cocked his head and raised his hand. “Shush.” After a moment of apparent listening, he said to Harley in a lower voice, “No time to get to know Mr. Queen now, Harley.” He turned to Oliver and said, “We’ll be back some other night. Just be careful. You remind me of my friend Batty, and I’d hate to see anything to happen to you.” 

The lights were turned off and the room returned to complete darkness. Oliver rushed out of bed and turned on the light. He tried the door, but found it locked again. He placed his ear to the door and tried to listen to what was happening in the hallway, but he didn’t hear anything. Oliver decided he’d simply return to bed and try to fall asleep again. He’ll try to figure everything out in the morning.

~~OQ~~FS~~OQ~~FS~~OQ~~

 

Oliver wasn’t aware of it, but as he slept several men crept into his room several hours after his visitors had left. They quickly administered a shot in his upper left arm moments before he began to stir. After Oliver slipped back into sleep, they transferred him to a stretcher and rolled him down the hallway. 

Upon waking, Oliver found himself not in his bed but instead strapped to a stretcher in what felt to be a large room with not a lot of furniture in it. Straps were belted around his upper chest and waist as well as around each ankle and wrist. His arms laid on the stretcher palm up, looking as though prepared for some sort of surgery. 

When a recognizable face entered the room in a white lab coat, Oliver asked, “What are you doing, Dr. Deeham, if that’s your real name?”

“It is, and you don’t have anything to fear, Mr. Queen. I hadn’t planned to do this immediately, but I didn’t count on your family being so anxious to see you. You were specially selected by me as a prime candidate for the first of a series of tests for a remarkable discovery. Because of this you should feel honored.”

“First of what tests?”

“When I heard about you, about your being the Green Arrow and incarcerated, I thought you’d be perfect. You’re in top physical condition, not too old, fairly intelligent, and experienced.”

“For what, may I ask, again, Doctor?”

“To become the perfect fighting machine.”

Oliver rolled his eyes. “I beg to disagree. That has already been tried, some seventy years ago, as well as recently in my own city. I watched many men die from what they called Mirakuru. You might have heard of it? It was the reason half my city was destroyed four years ago.”

“Of course I’ve read up on the Mirakuru studies. I have perfected the formula and added my own touches. The new formula has proven to be quite promising. I assure you, Mr. Queen, you’ll be most happy with the results.”

“If that’s the case, why am I restrained? Why wasn’t I asked permission before we did this? And given the necessary information before this was started?”

“Because, despite how physically perfect you might be, you’re not enlightened enough to see the benefits of participating without some ‘encouragement’.”

Oliver struggled against the restraints, trying again to break free of them. He almost knocked the stretcher over, but the doctor was able to grab it and easily prevent it from tipping over. 

“Mr. Queen, please relax. This will only take a moment and be uncomfortable for a short while.” Oliver continued to attempt to break the restraints while the doctor pushed up Oliver’s sleeve and prepared to inject the serum into the vein at Oliver’s antecubital space of his right arm. 

Suddenly shots rang out and Dr. Deeham fell over on his side, landing on the floor with a crash, the syringe dropping out of his hand and rolling beneath the stretcher. Oliver raised his head to see Dig and Felicity rushing into the room. As Dig pulled the doctor away from the table and began to restrain him using zip ties, Felicity began unstrapping Oliver from the table. 

“What a relief it is to see you two! I think I was about to be injected with something that would make Mirakuru look like mother’s milk.” Oliver rubbed his wrists to increase circulation to them once Felicity released the restraints.

“I’m so happy to see you in one piece, Oliver! I was stupefied when I arrived Tuesday morning at the hospital to find you mysteriously gone.”

“It wasn’t a piece of cake for me either.” Oliver sat up, throwing his legs over to sit on the stretcher’s edge. “I woke up in the middle of the night with two ‘visitors’ in my room.” 

“Who?” 

“The Joker and Harley Quinn themselves. They wanted to ‘welcome’ me to Arkham, but luckily security was making rounds at the time so they had to leave. They did try to warn me about Deeham, though.”

“Warn, or something else?” Diggle asked. 

Oliver shrugged. “I don’t know. Did you bring anyone else like the police with you?”

“I believe that’s my cue.” Oliver watched as an attractive, red-haired, tall and physically fit young woman entered the room. She had her cowl down, but there was no mistaking who she was by the bat emblem on the chest of her long-sleeved, close-fitting, black outfit she wore. 

“Well, Kate Kane, imagine meeting you here!” Oliver exclaimed with a smile. 

“You two know each other?” Dig looked between his friend and the new arrival. Turning towards the young woman, Dig asked, “Why’d you lead me to believe you didn’t know Oliver?”

“Because it was more fun this way. I looked forward to seeing your dumbfounded expression when you found out, Dig.”

“Hey, Kate, great seeing you. It’s been too long,” Oliver said as he held out his hand. Kate walked over and gave it a firm shake.

“Yeah, about seven years, I bet,” Felicity mumbled under her breath. 

Kate turned to look at her, a smirk on her face. “Why, Mrs. Queen, are you jealous?”

Her face red, Felicity said in a rush, “No, no, just that it’s yet another secret Mr. Queen never shared with us.” 

A soft smile on his face, Oliver looked over at his wife. “Honey, I didn’t mean to keep this a secret. There was simply no need to tell you I knew her.” 

“Next thing I know, you’re going to say you know Bruce Wayne is Batman.” 

Oliver quirked an eyebrow at her. Felicity rolled her eyes. “Okay. So you know.”

“How do you know that, Felicity?” Dig asked. 

She sniffed. “Not from anyone telling me, that’s for sure. Why would anyone tell me that kind of secret?” Looking at Dig, she said, “I figured it out on my own. It helped I knew another billionaire who masqueraded at night as a crime fighter.” She sniffed at Dig. “By the way, you were going to tell me how you know Kate.”

“My father served in the Army with Dig,” Kate said, beating Dig to it.

“Actually, it was my privilege to serve under Colonel Jake Kane for six months. Kate visited the base when she was still at West Point.” 

“Impressive.” Felicity gave her a huge smile and a nod. 

“So…is the police also arriving or is Bruce going to be bursting in at any moment?” Oliver asked, looking at Kate. “How do you stand with your city police at this time?” he asked, interested in her reply considering his own situation.

“Certainly a hell of a lot better than you’ve been. They tolerate me, mainly because of Bruce. He did the heavy lifting in the ‘gaining approval’ department, that’s for sure.” Kate winked at Oliver. “I’m going to call them and explain what the situation is here.” 

“What is the situation here? Was Dr. Deeham working on his own? Why haven’t his co-conspirators arrived to help him?”

“Oh, Kate and Dig took care of them on our way here. They were stationed throughout the tunnels,” Felicity said. 

Glaring at his wife, Oliver asked, “That reminds me, why did you accompany them into danger? You could’ve gotten hurt and distracted them?”

“Have you ever tried to tell your wife no, Oliver?” Dig asked with a smile. “It’s damn near impossible.” 

“You have one fearless, fiercely loyal woman here, Queen. I hope you appreciate her,” Kate added.

Oliver shook his head in defeat. “I do, don’t you worry.” He kissed her on the top of her head which she leaned in to accept with a smile.

After a moment of silence, whereupon the married couple were lost in their own thoughts, Kate decided to get down to business. “I hate to break this up, but shouldn’t we be getting out of here?” 

“Well, I’d for one would love to hear you tell some stories about both these idiots. Where you met, etc.” Felicity said. “Would you like to come to our hotel suite? We could order room service?”

“Um, Felicity, have you forgotten something?” Oliver asked. “the little matter of my incarceration.”

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about going back to prison, Mr. Queen.”

Everyone looked up at the doorway, as a man in his early fifties in a dark blue suit walked into the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess what boys and girls? Yep, yet another cliffhanger. This one probably not as scary as some of them have been though. 
> 
> I hope I did Batwoman Kate Kane justice. I tried to juggle the tidbits they’ve leaked about the crossover, with the actress’ physical characteristics, as well as what I could find about the different versions of Batwoman on the internet. 
> 
> And I couldn’t let mention of Arkham go by without an appearance of our favorite insanely criminal pair, Joker and Harley. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I had fun writing it. 
> 
> I hope you’ll return when I post the next chapter. We’ll see if there is another speed bump for Oliver or if this story is getting near the end. As always, make a gal happy and post a review of what you think of this chapter and/or the story.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this arrived sooner than I had expected, the end of this particular journey. Like I’ve said, this story took several unexpected turns. I just might write the story I had expected to write, without the restrictions of a real life high-security prison. If the show could, why can’t I? 
> 
> And then, with “The Slabside Redemption” being as great as it was, a whole bunch of story ideas have been swirling in my brain instead. And of course we have the crossover to watch, unless I have an idea which develops before it airs. Oh, so many choices, so little time. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy how this story wraps up. The epilogue is included in this chapter. Thank you for returning and if you left reviews, I totally appreciate it. I also thank you for all the kudos and follows. I hope you return to new stories as I post them, and please check out my other stories.

Disclaimer: CW/DC own these characters. I’m only borrowing them for a while. I own the original ideas found in this. 

Cross-posted to both FFN and AO3. 

 

Previously:

“Well, I’d for one would love to hear you tell some stories about both these idiots. Where you met, etc.” Felicity said. “Would you like to come to our hotel suite? We could order room service?”

“Um, Felicity, have you forgotten something?” Oliver asked. “the little matter of my incarceration.”

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about going back to prison, Mr. Queen.”

 

~~OQ~~FS~~

 

Everyone looked up at the doorway, as a man in his early fifties in a dark blue suit walked into the room.

“May I ask who you might be?” Dig asked after stepping in front of Oliver in a protective stance. 

Slowly holding up his hands, the man reached into his coat pocket and pulled out his driver’s license and a staff I.D. He held them up for the group to see before handing them to Dig. 

“Harold Anderson, Administrator of Arkham Hospital?” Dig handed the cards to Oliver, who looked at them, nodded and handed them back to Mr. Anderson. 

“I’m here to escort you and your loved ones out of here, Mr. Queen, and to ask for your forgiveness for everything that happened to you.” 

The last was met with a stony glance from Oliver and a remark which was swallowed from Felicity. Oliver asked, “How’s that possible?”

“Felicity was able to pull the necessary details together. She figured out Samanda Watson was out for personal revenge against you, Oliver,” Dig explained. “That’s what we came to tell you today.” Dig gave Oliver a cocky smile. “Besides saving your sorry ass.”

With a raised eyebrow, Oliver nonverbally asked for further details. Instead, Mr. Anderson said, “Your wife brought us a signed affidavit from the FBI acknowledging all charges have been overturned. Based on the evidence she brought forward saying Agent Watson fabricated many of the charges against you, as I understand it.” 

At the confused look on Oliver’s face, Felicity whispered to him, “Barry helped us with that.”

His eyes widening for a moment, Oliver quickly got his reaction under control and simply nodded. Because of the stranger in the room, Felicity couldn’t tell him Barry had super-sped the proof to the FBI, presented the case, and got results. 

Instead she asked Oliver, “Is there anything you need to grab from your room, Oliver? Before we leave?”

Oliver shook his head. “I hope you took my belongings from the county hospital?”

“Yes, I did, before I blew out of there in a huff.” At his questioning gaze she said, “I’ll explain that later as well.”

They were interrupted by the clearing of a throat. “If you’re ready, shall we go?” Mr. Anderson pointed at the doorway. 

Felicity held out her hand, which Oliver gratefully took. Dig and Kate, mask in place, walked behind them. As they walked down the hallways, Oliver couldn’t help but smile at the unconscious men dressed in hospital scrubs lying along their path. He was thankful Dig and Kate had been able to get through all of them to rescue him before he was turned into a guinea pig. Who knows what kind of experiments Dr. Deeham had planned for him. 

When they walked into the sunshine, Felicity smiled as Oliver stopped and looked up towards the sky, closing his eyes and taking in his first breaths of freedom. Felicity squeezed his hand and he turned his attention to her and smiled. She cocked her head towards their car where Lyla had been waiting as lookout. Oliver allowed her to lead him. Dig and Kate followed with huge smiles on their faces. 

 

~~OQ~~FS~~OQ~~FS~~OQ~~

 

As they were taking their seats around a large round table at the local restaurant Kate had suggested, Oliver waited as patiently as he could for everyone to get settled. Felicity, able to read him like one of her computer manuals since the first time they met, placed her hand on his bouncing knee. “Hold on. It wouldn’t be too much longer and all your questions will be answered.” 

Felicity glanced around the table and stood up. She picked up her water glass and hit her fork against it. Once she got everyone’s attention she began. 

“The man of the hour has been desperately trying to wait patiently until we explain everything to him. However, he cannot hold out too much longer.” Everyone laughed except Oliver, who pretended to scowl at everyone. Felicity looked down at her husband, who looked up at her with a moony smile on his face. “Okay, honey, I promised Dig I’d allow him to explain most of it.” She nodded at Dig as she sat down. 

Rising, Dig said in his deep voice, “Thanks, Felicity.” Shaking his head at Oliver, he said, “This has been unbelievable, but then with most of the things I’ve gotten involved because of you have been.” Everyone laughed again except Oliver, who shrugged. 

“We never knew this until recently, but Samanda Watson had a foster sister. This Melanie Grant didn’t live with the Watson family very long before she went to an orphanage. Thus only one record existed which stated this information. It had been misfiled years ago. Until Felicity uncovered it. Despite the short period of time they knew each other, Watson had stayed in touch with the girl. Unfortunately, while at the orphanage, Melanie got to know…guess who.” 

“Ricardo Diaz?” Oliver asked in a flat voice. 

“Yes. According to some staff there, he and Melanie grew quite close. When she grew up and got herself a job in Starling City, the three of them would meet occasionally to catch up. However, this didn’t last very long because she was one of the unfortunate people who was living in the Glades the spring of 2013.” Dig looked at Oliver for his reaction. 

“She died because of Merlyn’s earthquake.”

“Yep, and so when Samanda heard the accusations that the Hood was partially responsible for the destruction and deaths, she began to look into who the Hood, then who the Arrow and Green Arrow were.”

“How did she figure it was me? Or wasn’t she behind the leaked photo?”

“She was. We don’t know how she figured it out. Perhaps simple deduction. Perhaps Lance’s accusations. We don’t know, and she’s not saying. Anyhow, she connected with Diaz, who didn’t require much convincing to go after you for revenge. Between the two of them, they set you up with the leaked photo.” 

“That’s why she refused to help us when Cayden James had us by the throat.”

“Yep, since Diaz had orchestrated all of that to begin with.” 

“So…”

“With Felicity’s leads, ARGUS was able to dig up the info on Watson and figure out the trail. With Barry’s help we got the information to the FBI bigwigs, who reviewed it. They determined Samanda had not only overstepped her authority to ‘coerce’ you into confessing but she had even manufactured some evidence. So she’s now facing charges herself.” 

“And thus I’m cleared of all charges, even though I confessed?”

“The appeals court, convened upon an emergency order by the governor, thanks again to Barry, met and found you not guilty. Because of this decision, the federal court ruled it wouldn’t press additional charges.” Dig paused and took a breath. He scowled. “Unless you continue your vigilante activities.” 

“So I’m acquitted but can’t be a vigilante any more?”

Dig exchanged a solemn look with Oliver. “Yep, that's what it means, Oliver.”

“If only I hadn’t announced to the world I’ve been the Green Arrow.”

Dig sat down, leaned back, and looked Oliver straight in the eye. “Can you really say you still want to be a vigilante? With everything you’ve gone through, not just over the past seven months or last year, but over the past ten years? Don’t you think you’ve atoned enough for everything you think you’ve done in your life?”

Oliver didn’t stop a small smile appearing on his face. “Who says I was atoning for anything?”

Everyone groaned. Oliver gave a dry laugh. “I don’t know, Dig. You do have a point. Probably everyone would agree I’ve done enough to atone several lifetimes’ worth of sins.” 

“As if you had anything to atone for in the first place,” Felicity said. 

Oliver looked around the table, taking in everyone. Dig, his good friend and mentor. His wife Lyla, who had become a good friend as well. Kate, a good confidante the few times he needed her, besides leading the rescue mission today. And, most important of all, his soul mate (if he believed in that mushy stuff), the one person who understood him the best, the one person who loved him from the beginning despite his overwhelming flaws, his beautiful, talented wife Felicity. He was a very blessed man indeed. Without this group of people he really didn’t know how he would’ve recovered from his ordeal following the shipwreck. 

“Thank you, all of you. Felicity, for never giving up on me. Dig, for taking the place of the best friend I’ve ever had. Lyla and Kate, for helping get my sorry ass out of Arkham.” Oliver raised his water glass. “Thank you, guys,” he said in a hoarse voice. 

Felicity patted him on the back when he sat down. The waitress arrived to take their orders. Small talk broke out as Oliver continued to watch them, taking everything in. He truly was the most blessed of men to have such a group watching his back. 

As he was looking at his wife, Felicity turned and smiled at him. She patted his knee, acknowledging his unspoken thoughts. “You better eat up, Mister. You need to build up that muscle mass you’ve lost. I don’t like this scrawny look.” 

He shook his head at her attempt of gallows humor and turned to his food as it was set in front of him. 

 

~~~Epilogue~~~

 

After that day, Oliver and Felicity began a new life. Felicity convinced Oliver to drop all thoughts of continuing vigilante activity in any form. Instead, he considered opening his own business. He began to think about his options, but not until after he and Felicity returned from Bali. Oliver had a promise to keep and a honeymoon to enjoy with the woman he loved. 

It didn’t take him too long to decide that opening his own restaurant would be ideal. He took several college courses at Starling Community College, in order to get the proper credentials to run a restaurant. Felicity whole-heartily supported this idea while continuing her dream of her own start-up. Because of their relationship with the NTA, Felicity decided not to go into business with Curtis, who eventually moved to Central City with Nick. Nick had convinced Curtis they both needed a change in their lives after all the drama of Starling City. Rene and Zoe continued to hang out at the youth center, which promoted Rene several times. He also gave up being any sort of vigilante, even though the Anti-vigilante Act had been repealed. 

Dinah continued to work at SCPD as a captain. She was pleased with the outcomes of her hard work, and she was able to reform the police department to the point where no vigilante assistance was needed. Crime was still present, but not any more than any other large city. Corruption and grift were decreased as well, so Starling was able to attract new residents to the point where the population was at the level during the pre-Undertaking years.

Oliver and Felicity’s new baby was born exactly nine months after Oliver’s release from prison. Hardly anyone was surprised with the timing. Their friends enjoyed teasing Oliver about it, of course. The little boy named Thomas Robert Queen was a mirror image of his father the older he got with the personality to match. Oliver was able to get back at Felicity for all the kidding she’d given him when, two years later, a beautiful little girl was born. Emma Lynne Queen had the blue eyes from her mother as well as her father’s dimples and smile. Her quick intelligence was shown quickly by being in the top percentile of all the developmental milestones, as well as her attempts at keeping up with her two older brothers. And of course, besides being intelligent like her mother, little Emma was as persistent and stubborn as her mother could be. 

One night after the Diggle family of four (little Sara had been born a year after Oliver’s prison release) had been over for supper and family games, Mr. and Mrs. Queen collapsed into bed after their two younger children finally settled into sleep. Oliver reached across and took his wife’s hand. 

“I couldn’t have imagined such a life for myself, either before or after the island. Thank you.” 

“It’s as much due to your effort as mine, Oliver.”

“I’m so glad I chose to collapse into your Mini the night Mom shot me.” 

“You’re lucky I was working late that night.”

Oliver gave out a laugh. “Who knows? I might have ended up married to another smart, beautiful blonde.”

Felicity leaned on her elbow and kissed her husband. “Never. We were destined to be together.” 

As they slowly began to make love, Oliver reflected again how happy he was with his family and his life. He soon lost all thoughts but the woman beneath him as she claimed all his attention. And not for the first time. As always, she was the light of his life, the one who made him whole.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that’s it, folks. I hope the ending made sense, and that the motives and methods of Watson flowed together well. I thank you for sticking with this story and hope you enjoyed it. If you like, please leave a comment or review. Always greatly appreciated. Hope to see you with my next story! Thank you for reading.

**Author's Note:**

> So, what’d you think? Please let me know by comment even what part you liked the best. I especially like Felicity being told. Anyway, let me know what your favorite part was. Hopefully I will get the next chapter up soon as well. (And one of these days I will have a story finished before I start posting, sigh).


End file.
